SURVIVING AUTOCRACY

Born in the Soviet Union, journalist Masha Gessen narrates with a slight accent that gives this audiobook a kind of authenticity. Their work adds a singular angle of vision to the cottage industry of works critical of the president. An astute student of autocrats, they bring their analysis and scorn to Donald Trump. They have reported on autocrats in Russia, Hungary, and Israel, and their insights are damning of our president's views and habits: his contempt for science and other expertise, disdain for democratic institutions, and proclivity for scapegoating immigrants--all stock traits of the autocrat. Unfortunately, this audiobook needs a stronger narrator. Gessen has written a provocative and trenchant study of the contemporary autocratic personality, but they are a lackluster narrator. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2020]