' The Road to Unfreedom is a rich and complex book, punctuated by epigrams that cast heroic clarity upon the disturbing distance the United States has already traveled to the sinister destination in Snyder's title. A roller-coaster world calls for a news editor's skill in processing facts and a philosopher's ability to dissect ideologies. 'Combining topical reporting with delvings into the history of ideas and some political-philosophical musing in the author's own voice, this relatively short book covers a vast canvas. 'A brilliant and disturbing analysis, which should be read by anyone wishing to understand the political crisis currently engulfing the world.' -Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens Shortlisted for the 2019 Lionel Gelber Prize By revealing the stark choices before us-between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood-Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.

To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies. Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Vladimir Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final.

'A brilliant analysis of our time.'-Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker Description NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of On Tyranny comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.

The road to unfreedom timothy snyder