Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Surviving autocracy / Masha Gessen.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Riverhead Books, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Description: xvi, 270 pages ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593188934
  • 0593188934
Subject(s):
Contents:
What do we call it? -- Waiting for the Reichstag fire -- The Styrofoam president -- We could call it a kakistocracy -- We could call it corruption -- We could call it aspirational autocracy -- We could pretend he is an alien, or call it the government of destruction -- The death of dignity -- Mueller did not save us -- Institutions have not saved us -- Words have meaning, or they ought to -- The power lie -- The tweet trap -- Normalization is (almost) unavoidable -- Resisting Trump's war on the media -- How politics dies -- A white male supremacist president -- "Throwing off the mask of hypocrisy" -- The antipolitics of fear -- Confronting civil society -- The power of moral authority -- Who is "us"? And who are we?
Summary: "An analysis of the destruction the Trump administration has waged on our institutions, the cultural norms we hoped would save us, and our very sense of identity"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within forty-eight hours of his victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of his norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Gessen has a sixth sense for signs of autocracy--and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate its emergence to Americans. This incisive book provides an indispensable overview of the calamitous trajectory of the past few years. Gessen not only highlights the corrosion of the media, the judiciary, and the cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years have 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 but also a beacon to recovery--or to enduring, and resisting, an ongoing assault.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 973.933 G392 Available 33111009655271
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"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 bestselling, 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.

Includes bibliographical references.

What do we call it? -- Waiting for the Reichstag fire -- The Styrofoam president -- We could call it a kakistocracy -- We could call it corruption -- We could call it aspirational autocracy -- We could pretend he is an alien, or call it the government of destruction -- The death of dignity -- Mueller did not save us -- Institutions have not saved us -- Words have meaning, or they ought to -- The power lie -- The tweet trap -- Normalization is (almost) unavoidable -- Resisting Trump's war on the media -- How politics dies -- A white male supremacist president -- "Throwing off the mask of hypocrisy" -- The antipolitics of fear -- Confronting civil society -- The power of moral authority -- Who is "us"? And who are we?

"An analysis of the destruction the Trump administration has waged on our institutions, the cultural norms we hoped would save us, and our very sense of identity"-- Provided by publisher.

In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within forty-eight hours of his victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of his norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Gessen has a sixth sense for signs of autocracy--and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate its emergence to Americans. This incisive book provides an indispensable overview of the calamitous trajectory of the past few years. Gessen not only highlights the corrosion of the media, the judiciary, and the cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years have 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 but also a beacon to recovery--or to enduring, and resisting, an ongoing assault.

Powered by Koha