Surviving Autocracy

By: Masha Gessen

Narrated by: Masha Gessen

"When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen." (The New York Times)

“A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact.” (Interview)

As seen on MSNBC's Morning Joe and heard on NPR's All Things Considered: the best-selling, National Book Award-winning journalist offers an essential guide to understanding, resisting, and recovering from the ravages of our tumultuous times.

This incisive book provides an essential guide to understanding and recovering from the calamitous corrosion of American democracy over the past few years. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen has a sixth sense for the manifestations of autocracy - and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate their emergence to Americans. Gessen not only anatomizes the corrosion of the institutions and cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years changed us from a people who saw ourselves as a nation of immigrants to a populace haggling over a border wall, heirs to a degraded sense of truth, meaning, and possibility. Surviving Autocracy is an inventory of ravages and a call to account but also a beacon to recovery - and to the hope of what comes next.

©2020 Masha Gessen (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact.” (Interview Magazine)

“A brisk, trenchant account....Gessen’s meticulous research and familiarity with the political and cultural history of post-Soviet Russia lend her arguments an authority lacking in other take downs of Trump. Liberals looking to make sense of what they’re up against in the 2020 elections should consider this a must-read.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“A blistering appraisal...Surviving Autocracy isn't merely important reading for anyone who plans to cast a vote in that election, it's essential.” (Shelf Awareness)

A wake up call that Trump is an “aspiring autocrat” and we’re on the way to autocracy

The missing history if how democracies get destroyed and turned into autocracies, and how Trump is in fact progressing is down the path to ending democracy as we know it. using recent histories like Putin’s Russia and Erduan’s Turkey and transitions prior to and during World War II where it’s easy to forget that Hitler started his career in a democracy that destroyed en route to creating a dictatorship. How to spot the consistent, predictable steps dictatorships take both in messaging and action and know when to sound the alarm.
A must-read for Americans who are not noticing the parallels - I was one of them.

One of the biggest challenges additionally covered is the challenge to press faces of trying to be and sound objective when the aspiring autocrat brazenly and continuously attacks not just their credibility but is brainwashing and misinforming their public. How the New York Times decided to stop calling lies for what they were making them complicit. also helping me see that CNN who Trump attacks most has done the opposite - calling lies lies and characterizing his behavior as it is, thus open to attacks on them for being somehow biased because it all sounds so bad. This book aids news outlets and everyone else by adding to our vocabulary the terms “autocratic attempt” and other concepts to help us put Trumps assault on the Constitution and American government safeguards into a historical perspective and see the real and present danger in this supposedly light hearted reality show star.

clear, concise, thought-provoking

This is an important piece that every American should read. Lest we forget. The Reichstag fire analogy got a little lost. Narration was great.

this is a must read !

All the time it was as I was thinking it. I could not stop listening to it even late into the night.

Another Great One

File another well written spotlight on how Trump is destroying America which his base needs to really read or listen to but unfortunately they won't...

Excellent, Serious Analysis

Gessen approaches our current Idiocracy with clarity, deep knowledge, and hope. don't miss it

A Must Read!

Gessen offers a concrete exploration of the rhetoric and mindset of Trump's America. The chapters on the use and manipulation of language by Trump himself, paints a detailed portrait of a autocrat thirsty for power, weilding the rhetoric of hate, marching towards an absolute rule. I appreciate their work and insight. A must read.

Cautionary Tale

I have listened to this book a few times. First as an overview, then for context, then for application in my life. Masha Gessen speaks candidly from experience living in Russia, to today in the US under the influence of Trump. It is shocking to learn how autocracy creeps in, how autocrats find people willing to support them, and how easily populations are swayed by word-salad nonsense. This book shows me how important it is to listen to the words, question the meaning, and push back when the first two do not align with my ethos or the direction I want our country to go in the future. Also to encourage my children to do the same. Democracy requires participation.

Good But . . .

If you've followed Masha over the years, and know her various speeches and writings on Trump, I don't think you will find much that is new here. That is my only complaint. I've heard most of this before. If you haven't, though, it's a great introduction to her thought and writing.
She is a wonderful writer, always with a unique perspective on things, and vital reading on Trump.

clear and concise rundown of the destruction of democracy

how incredibly smart the author is- a very sad but truthful account of what is happening to us

comprehensive and thorough

Beautifully written. Chilling accurate. The USA peoples have yet to see if we/us can move beyond acctocracy and choose democracy. Trump and Trumpism will cause only pain.