Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben-Ghiat in Conversation: Autocracy, Inc.

Join Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author Anne Applebaum in conversation with historian and MSNBC opinion columnist Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the recent alarming rise of dictatorships across the world — and her new book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.

Well-known to readers as an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities and staff writer for The Atlantic, Anne Appelbaum’s new book is an illuminating combination of reportorial exposé and history showing how modern dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are changing the rules of global politics to thwart economic sanctions and crush protest movements at home and abroad with near impunity. It is an urgent warning call to democracies the world over — including the US, ahead of the 2024 elections — to aggressively push back. Hear her and Ben-Ghiat discuss the book’s genesis from her widely-read Atlantic piece, “There is No Liberal World Order,” and how ordinary American citizens can take action and demand that our leaders stand up for democratic ideals.