24 Oct 2020

Masha Gessen: Surviving Autocracy

From Saturday Morning, 9:10 am on 24 October 2020
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Photo: Supplied

Within 48 hours of Donald Trump's 2016 victory, Masha Gessen's essay Autocracy: Rules for Survival had gone viral.

A staff writer at The New Yorker, Gessen's Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, made them uniquely qualified to assess Trump's potential to become an autocratic leader.

In their new book Surviving Autocracy, Gessen highlights the corrosion of the media, judiciary, and cultural norms that they see as signals that the nation has tipped further towards autocracy.

Gessen has authored twelve books, including the National Book Award-winning The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.

Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen Photo: supplied / Lena Di