Ukraine and America’s Credibility Crisis — with Anne Applebaum

In 'Autocracy, Inc.', Anne Applebaum provides a detailed analysis of how modern autocracies operate, highlighting their sophisticated networks of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists. These autocratic regimes, spanning countries like China, Russia, and Iran, collaborate across borders to maintain power and undermine democracy. Applebaum argues that international condemnation and economic sanctions are ineffective against these autocrats and calls for democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to combat this new threat. The book serves as both a historical investigation and a practical guide for defending democratic values against the rising tide of autocracy.

In 'Gulag: A History', Anne Applebaum provides a detailed and documented history of the Soviet camp system. The book covers the chronological history of the camps, from their establishment in 1918 to their expansion under Stalin and their eventual collapse. Applebaum draws on Soviet-era archives, diaries, and writings of camp survivors to describe the lives and deaths of inmates, including their arrest, interrogation, transportation, and living conditions. The book also examines the cultural and social aspects of life within the Gulag, including its own laws, customs, literature, and morality. It is recognized as a landmark work of historical scholarship and an essential contribution to understanding the history of the twentieth century.