Praise for Surviving Autocracy
"When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen." --
The New York Times "The Platonic ideal of the anti-Trump Trump book. . . . Offers discomfort and reassurance at once." --
The Washington Post "An indispensable voice of and for this moment." --
Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny "Urgent . . . Gessen's credentials as an observer of autocracy are impeccable. . . .
Surviving Autocracy sharpens an edge of disgust lately blunted by relentless use." --
The New York Review of Books
"The fearless Russian American journalist probes the black hole between fact and fantasy in [a] taut, incisive critique."
--O, The Oprah Magazine "Gessen brings . . . a unique blend of intellect and manifold passions. . . [flashing] the fierce attitude and language of the partisan activist in one moment, returning to the cooler mien of a public intellectual the next."
--NPR
"Brilliant. . . . [Gessen's] clarity is gemlike and refusal to equivocate precious." --
The Guardian (London) "A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact."
--Interview "Gessen's decades-long experience covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia puts them in a unique position to help Americans understand what is happening to the United States under President Donald Trump. . . . Gessen shows us that having the language to understand what is happening is the first step to surviving, and ultimately resisting, an autocratic future." --
The Nation "It's hard to imagine someone more poised to write a book called
Surviving Autocracy than Masha Gessen. . . . It's a crucial book for our times." --
The New York Observer "Unfailingly polemical, precise and analytic." --
New Statesman (London)
"A stark wake-up call; to those who are looking for what happens now, Gessen's notes on how we need to rebuild the concept of a 'we' in our time are warm and moving, a light of hope that these years can be survived." --
Lit Hub "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 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 takedowns 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 handbook for an age in which egomania is morphing into autocracy at warp speed. . . . Belongs on the shelf alongside Timothy Snyder's
On Tyranny and Amy Siskind's
The List as a record of how far we have fallen. Gessen is a Suetonius for our time, documenting the death of the old America while holding out slim hope for its restoration." --
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Gessen's is a clarion voice in the darkness, offering a sobering but sharp-witted analysis of how American society has changed under Trump. . . . [their] rallying cry is a vital and pressing reminder of what's at stake." --
Booklist (starred review)
