Surviving Autocracy: Masha Gessen with Anand Giridharadas

About this Event

Russian-American author, journalist, and activist Masha Gessen, whose latest book is Surviving Autocracy, spoke with Anand Giridharadas, just ahead of the 2020 United States presidential election.

Written after the 2016 US presidential election, and drawing on what they had seen happen under Vladimir Putin, Gessen's Surviving Autocracy is an analysis of the destruction the Trump administration has waged on our institutions, and our very sense of identity, and sketches out a dark vision of a nation in which a fragile democracy can quickly erode into one-man rule.

In advance of the 2020 election, they continue to sound the alarm over the "creeping normalization" of this administration's efforts to tamp down press access. With an analysis that, "the Democratic Party lies in ruins, and the Republican Party lies prostrate,” Gessen predicts that the threat of autocracy will remain no matter who is elected, given the deterioration of the US’s political culture: "If Trump disappears tomorrow, we're actually looking at a vastly changed political landscape and a real crisis in American democracy."

This event was a partnership between Lannan Foundation and Haymarket Books. It was hosted online at YouTube. Audio and video have been edited to highlight the guest speakers.

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Audio from this Event

Masha Gessen spoke with Anand Giridharadas about "Surviving Autocracy" | Duration: 1:20:11

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Video from this Event

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