A "Day Book" - Twilight of Democracy

Just finished this one and can't find enough good things to say about it.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/.../twilight-of.../

I really love Anne Applebaum's books - she wrote The Gulag and Red Famine, both incredible history tomes with special insight into Russian history. She was able to penetrate deeper Russian troves than most American historians because she speaks/reads Russian and spent a lot of time in the archives before anyone caught on to what she was up to. Those books stand on their own (literally, they’re massive) - this is entirely different and much more approachable.

Twilight of Democracy is a "day book" (224 pages) with a colloquial tone. She begins by writing about a housewarming party she held with her husband 20ish years ago - who was there, and who (from the same group) speaks to each other now. It's about the polarization of political groups, a bit of psychology and history of each of them and their impact around the EU and also the US. It's fantastic. Problematic in that it's one of those books from which long reading lists are created - every other page had me writing something down for later research.

Published in 2024 and worth the read!