Surviving Autocracy

Starred review from April 27, 2020
National Book Award–winner Gessen (The Future Is History) delivers a scathing indictment of the Trump administration’s impact on “the American system of government.” Drawing on Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar’s concept of “autocratic transformation,” Gessen links Trump’s dominance over the Republican Party; “disdain for excellence,” particularly in the workings of government; manipulation of state institutions for personal gain; and packing of the federal courts with ultra-conservative judges to developments in “post-Communist countries” following the collapse of the Soviet Union. She also dissects Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and castigates the U.S. media for normalizing the behavior of education secretary Betsy DeVos and other Trump appointees by “privileg neutrality above all else, including substance” and “plac artificial limits on a journalist’s ability to observe reality.” Gessen ends her brisk, trenchant account with a call for “political figures of powerful moral authority” (she nominates the four freshman congresswomen known as “the Squad”) to combat Trumpism with a more inclusive and dignified vision of “America as it could be.” Gessen’s meticulous research and familiarity with the political and cultural history of post-Soviet Russia lend her arguments an authority lacking in other takedowns of Trump. Liberals looking to make sense of what they’re up against in the 2020 elections should consider this a must-read. Agent: Elyse Cheney, the Cheney Agency.

Born in the Soviet Union, journalist Masha Gessen narrates with a slight accent that gives this audiobook a kind of authenticity. Their work adds a singular angle of vision to the cottage industry of works critical of the president. An astute student of autocrats, they bring their analysis and scorn to Donald Trump. They have reported on autocrats in Russia, Hungary, and Israel, and their insights are damning of our president's views and habits: his contempt for science and other expertise, disdain for democratic institutions, and proclivity for scapegoating immigrants--all stock traits of the autocrat. Unfortunately, this audiobook needs a stronger narrator. Gessen has written a provocative and trenchant study of the contemporary autocratic personality, but they are a lackluster narrator. A.D.M. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine