Anne Applebaum Livres

Applebaum's account will surely become the standard treatment of one of history's great political atrocities. . . . She re-creates a pastoral world so we can view its destruction. And she rightly insists that the deliberate starvation of the Ukrainian peasants was part of a larger [Soviet] policy against the Ukrainian nation. . . . To be sure, Russia is not the Soviet Union, and Russians of today can decide whether they wish to accept a Stalinist version of the past. But to have that choice, they need a sense of the history. This is one more reason to be grateful for this remarkable book. -Timothy Snyder, Washington Post Lucid, judicious and powerful. . . . The argument that Stalin singled out Ukraine for special punishment is well-made. . . . [An] excellent and important book. -Anna Reid, Wall Street Journal Applebaum chronicles in almost unbearably intimate detail the ruin wrought upon Ukraine by Josef Stalin and the Soviet state apparatus he had built on suspicion, paranoia, and fear. . . . Applebaum gives a chorus of contemporary voices to the tale, and her book is written in the light of later history, with the fate of Ukraine once again in the international spotlight and Ukrainians realizing with newly-relevant intensity that, as Red Famine reminds us, 'History offers hope as well as tragedy.' -Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor A magisterial and heartbreaking history of Stalin's Ukrainian famine. -Simon Sebag Montefiore, London Evening Standard Powerful. . . . War, as Carl von Clausewitz famously put it, is the continuation of politics by other means. The politics in this case was the Sovietisation of Ukraine; the means was starvation. Food supply was not mismanaged by Utopian dreamers. It was weaponised. . . . With searing clarity, Red Famine demonstrates the horrific consequences of a campaign to eradicate 'backwardness' when undertaken by a regime in a state of war with its own people. -The Economist Anne Applebaum's Red Famine-powerful, relentless, shocking, compelling-will cement her deserved reputation as the leading historian of Soviet crimes. -Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (London) Chilling, dramatic. . . . In her detailed, well-rendered narrative, Applebaum provides a 'crucial backstory' for understanding current relations between Russia and Ukraine. An authoritative history of national strife from a highly knowledgeable guide. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Introduction: the Ukrainian question -- The Ukrainian revolution, 1917 -- Rebellion, 1919 -- Famine and truce: the 1920s -- The double crisis: 1927-9 -- Collectivization: revolution in the countryside, 1930 -- Rebellion, 1930 -- Collectivization fails, 1931-2 -- Famine decisions, 1932: requisitions, blacklists and borders -- Famine decisions, 1932: the end of Ukrainization-- Famine decisions, 1932: the searches and the searchers -- Starvation: spring and summer, 1933 -- Survival: spring and summer, 1933 -- Aftermath -- The cover-up -- The Holodomor in history and memory -- Epilogue: the Ukraine question reconsidered

One of the world's most celebrated historians and journalists uncovers the networks trying to destroy the democratic world All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like, with a bad man at the top. But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources—the troll farms that promote one dictator’s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another—and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America. Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, this group doesn’t operate like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies: Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing: Their dislike of us, the inhabitants of the democratic world, and their desire to see both our political systems and our values undermine. That shared understanding of the world—where it comes from, why it lasts, how it works, how the democratic world has unwittingly helped to consolidate it, and how we can help bring it down—is the subject of this book.

Collects the writings of a diverse group of people who survived imprisonment in the Gulag, recounting their experiences and relationships, and offering insight into the psychological aspects of life in the camps.

A fully documented history of the Soviet camp system, from its origins in the Russian Revolution to its collapse in the era of glasnost. Anne Applebaum first lays out the chronological history of the camps and the logic behind their creation, enlargement, and maintenance. Applebaum also examines how life was lived within this shadow country: how prisoners worked, how they ate, where they lived, how they died, how they survived. She examines their guards and their jailers, the horrors of transportation in empty cattle cars, the strange nature of Soviet arrests and trials, the impact of World War II, the relations between different national and religious groups, and the escapes, as well as the extraordinary rebellions, that took place in the 1950s. She concludes by examining the disturbing question why the Gulag has remained relatively obscure, in the historical memory of both the former Soviet Union and the West

Anne Applebaum is a leading historian of communism and a penetrating investigator of contemporary politics. Here she sets her sights on the big question, one with which she herself has been deeply engaged in both Europe and America: how did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document, written with urgency, intelligence and understanding, is her answer. Timothy Snyder Friendships torn. Ideals betrayed. Alliances broken. In this, her most personal book, a great historian explains why so many of those who won the battles for democracy or have spent their lives proclaiming its values are now succumbing to liars, thugs and crooks. Analysis, reportage and memoir, Twilight of Democracy fearlessly tells the shameful story of a political generation gone bad. David Frum In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually - as this book compellingly relates - the relationships soured too. Anne Applebaum traces this history in an unfamiliar way, looking at the trajectories of individuals caught up in the public events of the last three decades. When politics becomes polarized, which side do you back? If you are a journalist, an intellectual, a civic leader, how do you deal with the re-emergence of authoritarian or nationalist ideas in your country? When your leaders appropriate history, or pedal conspiracies, or eviscerate the media and the judiciary, do you go along with it? Twilight of Democracy is an essay that combines the personal and the political in an original way and brings a fresh understanding to the dynamics of public life in Europe and America, both now and in the recent past.

As Europe's borderlands emerged from Soviet rule, Anne Applebaum travelled from the Baltic to the Black Sea, through Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and the Carpathian mountains. Rich in vivid characters and stories of tragedy and survival, Between East and West illuminates the soul of a place, and the secret history of its people

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union unexpectedly found itself in control of a huge swathe of territory in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his secret police set out to convert a dozen radically different countries to a completely new political and moral system- Communism. Anne Applebaum's landmark history of this brutal time shows how societies were ruthlessly eviscerated by Communist regimes, how opposition was destroyed and what life was like for ordinary people who had to choose whether to fight, to flee or to collaborate. Iron Curtainis an exceptional work of historical and moral reckoning, and a haunting reminder of how fragile freedom can be. Chosen 16 times as a 'Book of the Year' - The top Non-Fiction pick of 2012'The best work of modern history I have ever read.' A. N. Wilson, Financial Times'The outstanding book of the year . . . a masterpiece.' Oliver Kamm, The Times, Books of the Year 'Exceptionally important, wise, perceptive, remarkably objective.' Antony Beevor 'Explains in a manner worthy of Arthur Koestler what totalitarianism really means . . . it is a window into a world of lies and evil that we can hardly imagine.' Edward Lucas, Standpoint 'At last the story can be told . . . a magisterial history.' Orlando Figes, Mail on Sunday

A FINANCIAL TIMES, ECONOMIST AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'The most important non-fiction book of the year' David Hare In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually - as this book compellingly relates - the relationships soured too. Anne Applebaum traces this history in an unfamiliar way, looking at the trajectories of individuals caught up in the public events of the last three decades. When politics becomes polarized, which side do you back? If you are a journalist, an intellectual, a civic leader, how do you deal with the re-emergence of authoritarian or nationalist ideas in your country? When your leaders appropriate history, or pedal conspiracies, or eviscerate the media and the judiciary, do you go along with it? Twilight of Democracy is an essay that combines the personal and the political in an original way and brings a fresh understanding to the dynamics of public life in Europe and America, both now and in the recent past.

In making her new home in Poland in 1989, Applebaum had to cook with ingredients that were local, fresh, and available. She learned how to make food that was, if not exactly traditional, in the Polish spirit. The national rebirth of Poland in the last two decades has meant the rebirth of its cuisine, and the authors have modernized many of its dishes, without losing any of the centuries-old flavors. Collects ninety Polish recipes, including roasted winter vegetables, stewed beef rolls with kasha, pork loin stuffed with prunes, and fruit pierogi.