Review: Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends, by Anne Applebaum

Anne Applebaum is a great historian, a terrific journalist and a strong opponent of authoritarian regimes everywhere. But this book disappoints.

It begins with a party she and her Polish husband hosted in 1999. Their friends at the time were people who had participated the democratic movements that helped bring down Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe. Twenty years on, she says she would cross the street to avoid meeting half of them — and the feeling is mutual.

This is due to the fact that many of her former centre-right friends in places like Poland and Hungary are no longer centre-right; they now identify with what some call ‘populism’ and others call the ‘far right’ or ‘alt right’.

So far, so good. But the book offers little beyond anecdotes about Applebaum’s former friends, and why they are ‘former’. This includes stories of old friends reluctantly meeting her and then insisting on recording their conversation. Stuff like that.

Applebaum’s other books are rigorously researched and footnoted; this one reads more like something she might recount at one of her parties. It’s not without interest — most things she writes are interesting by default — but it’s not her best work by far.