Anne Applebaum has written extensively on the atrocities of the Soviet system and its effect on eastern Europe, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Gulag: A History,” a chilling account of the concentration camps that terrorized Soviet society through the rise and fall of communism. But in her new book, “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism,” Applebaum explores the personal side of politics – when friends who once valued democracy turn to the divisive promises of nationalism and authoritarianism. Applebaum, who lives in Poland and writes for The Atlantic, says she wrote “Twilight” to remind us that democracies can and do die, and that if we want to save our own, “What happens next is up to us.”

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