Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World

Anne Applebaum (born in 1964) is a historian and journalist. She is a popular author of non-fiction works which combine historical analysis with political insights. She won the General Non-fiction Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for her book Gulag: A History (2003). Applebaum’s analyses and expertise focus on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the history of authoritarianism in those regions.

Applebaum received an undergraduate degree in History at Yale University in 1986, followed by an MA in International Relations at the London School of Economics in 1987. She then worked for prominent journals, such as The Economist, The Independent, and The Spectator, moving between Poland and the UK. She has also worked for The Washington Post as a contributor and member of the editorial staff for 15 years. She is currently a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Applebaum has written extensively on the themes of dictatorship, repression, and the threats posed by authoritarian regimes to global democracy. For example, in her 2020 book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Applebaum discusses the resurgence of illiberal politics in the West. Her work also draws on her familiarity with post-communist Eastern Europe. Applebaum is married to Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, with whom she has two children.