Mr. Book just finished Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run The World, by Anne Applebaum.

Applebaum is a writer for The Atlantic that I have heard speak on podcasts numerous times. I’m always impressed by her, but I am starting to conclude that she is much better in that forum than she is in books. This is the second book of hers that I have read. I had read Twilight Of Democracy: The Seductive Lure Of Authoritarianism, in 2020 and gave that a B.

This was a short book that, most importantly, was short on good content. Her discussion of Hugo Chavez was interesting, but could have benefitted by being longer. Overall, there really was nothing to make this book stand out. It is an important, timely topic that I know this author does a good job on when talking about it, but I can’t tell that from appeared in this book. The topic has been covered much better by multiple other books that I’ve read.

I give this book a C. Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a C equates to 2 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.

Mr. Book originally finished reading this on July 28, 2024.