nicoleacottagewitch 's review for:

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum

3.0

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Interesting but seems to miss some perspectives. I’m not at all convinced that Howard Zinn and others who criticise the “myth of American exceptionalism” are anti-American so much as realists who recognise that things like slavery don’t make a country a “shining city on a hill”. I’m also not at all convinced by arguments about “identify politics” when some people, e.g. black Americans and trans people, are just fighting for their right to exist in some places.

I’m also not convinced that, amongst some anyway, there’s not a thread to follow between the politics of Reagan and the politics of Trump. Applebaum seems to approve of Reagan but doesn’t think there’s a relationship between his ideas and Trump’s. That said, I agree that some views, e.g. of Russia and democratic ideals, have changed dramatically since the Cold War.