Summary of masha gessen's surviving autocracy

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The difficulty in absorbing the news is that the words we use have a way of making the outrageous seem normal. Thus, when we try to describe the exceptional, barely imaginable nature of Trumpian events, we are forced to use normalizing words. #2 When we use the wrong language to describe what we are seeing, we cannot understand it. When some of the post-Soviet societies developed in unexpected ways, language impaired our ability to understand the process. #3 The Obama story, which drew on the stories of previous presidents, was that American society was inexorably moving towards a better, more free, and fairer world. It may stumble, but it always rights itself. #4 After the election, people were quick to compare it to the Reichstag Fire, which happened in Germany in 1933. The fire was used to create a state of exception, which allowed Hitler to expand his power unchecked.