An important background about autocracies across the world and how they coordinate. Always relevant but especially so in a second Trump term.

Initially, Autocracy, Inc piqued my interest by the way the synopsis described autocracy. I found the writing easy to follow, which I think will help draw others in to understand an otherwise overwhelming topic. While I do think Applebaum does a good job of laying out examples, near the end the connections she draws gets a bit weak on supporting facts.

In "Autocracy, Inc.," Anne Applebaum pulls back the curtain on the structures and relationships that uphold autocratic regimes around the world. The strengths of the book lie in its brevity and concise writing style. Rather than feeling overly academic as similar books oftentimes do, Applebaum's writing reads more like a longform magazine article. Applebaum also provides a wide range of examples to support her thesis, ranging from China's increasing role in multilateral fora to political corruption across decades in Zimbabwe, The book almost feels like a crash course in "Autocracy 101."

However, these strengths also end up being some of the biggest weaknesses for the book as well. Several of the connections that Applebaum makes feel limited in the level of support that she provides. While she does paint a compelling narrative and highlights plenty of interesting examples, I still felt that her overall theory was overly simplified and missing critical historical perspectives. In the end, I believe that the scope of Applebaum's work is simply too vast to try and fit into as short of a book as "Autocracy, Inc." While the brevity may help it reach less familiar readers, fleshing out examples further and providing more historical context would have significantly strengthened Applebaum's argument.

The dedication page of Autocracy, Inc. says "For the Optimists", but there are likely to be fewer of them after people read this book. Anne Applebaum deftly describes how autocrats around the world rob their citizens of their wealth, control information and narrative, discredit and smear opposition, and are changing the international order away from enforcement of human rights. But the big emphasis of this book is how autocracies and their witting and unwitting allies in democracies work together (hence the Inc. of the title) to make this happen - making for very strange bedfellows (e.g. Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwe, Russia and China).

Ultimately, it's the specific examples of how this happens that will draw the reader in; I'd give a few, but I'm trying to keep this review short.

It's clear that autocratic impulses are spreading like a contagion, and the epilogue (subtitled "Democrats United") suggests that democratic nations and democratic opposition leaders must unite to oppose the autocratic behavior in both democratic and non-democratic nations. I agree that this must be done, but it sounds like a heavy lift. One aspect of autocracies that Applebaum emphasizes is that they no longer want to convert us to their ideology; their aim is to just turn us into cynics. Perhaps my own pessimism means I too am falling into the trap set by "Autocracy, Inc."

It may be hard to tell from this review, but this book is highly recommended. It reads like an extended magazine article and can easily be read in two evenings, but you may feel like stopping at the liquor cabinet before going to bed. Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for providing me a copy for early review. As the first reviewer on Goodreads, I hope I've done the book justice.