Surviving Autocracy

Many of us are consumed by news cycles reporting on Trump's latest astonishing policy or declaration, and the overwhelming sense we have is one of confusion and incredulity – how could this be happening?

Since Trump’s inauguration in 2016, a new mantra has taken hold: ‘this isn’t normal’. And in Trump’s response to Covid-19, we have witnessed the extreme consequences of his presidency and of a government at war with itself. In this searing analysis of the Trump administration, acclaimed New Yorker journalist and prizewinning author Masha Gessen provides an indispensable overview of the calamitous trajectory of the past few years and proposes a new understanding of Trumpism and the way it has transformed and endangered American society.

Gessen links together seemingly disparate elements of Trump’s regime to offer a roadmap to his approach, policies and ultimate aims. Highlighting an inventory of ravages to liberal democracy, including the corrosion of the media, the justice system and cultural norms, Gessen posits that America is in the throes of an autocratic takeover.

As other world leaders queue up to take pages straight out of Trump’s playbook, Gessen’s penetrating analysis of his misdeeds explains why and how he is degrading our politics, our institutions and our language, and what we, our political representatives and our media can do to stop him – and those who seek to imitate him.

About the Author

Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist, translator, activist and author of 12 books, including the National Book Award-winning The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia and The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. A staff writer at The New Yorker and the recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim and Carnegie fellowships, Gessen teaches at Bard College and lives in New York City.