The Road to Unfreedom

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The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
First edition
AuthorTimothy Snyder
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectRussia, democracy
Published2018
PublisherTim Duggan Books
ISBN9780525574460

The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America is a 2018 book by Timothy Snyder. In it, Snyder explores Russian attempts to influence Western democracies and the influence of philosopher Ivan Ilyin on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation in general.[1][2][3]

Reviews[]

Historian Margaret MacMillan writing for The New York Times calls the book a "good wake up call",[4] while Tim Adams in a review for The Guardian describes the book as "persuasive", "chilling and unignorable"[5] and a review in Fair Observer calls it an "important addition to the literature explaining current events" and rising authoritarianism.[6]

An academic review by Sumantra Maitra published by the conservative organization Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal called Snyder's central thesis "simplistic as it sounds and is based purely on conventional wisdom and current liberal narrative. It also suffers from the notable disadvantages of being empirically inaccurate and wrong."[7]

The book was criticized by Sophie Pinkham in The Nation as "the apotheosis of a certain paranoid style that has emerged among liberals in Trump's wake." Pinkham added "Snyder's picture of Putin's campaign to destroy America is unconvincing."[8]

Historian Paul Robinson gave the book a negative review arguing that Snyder misinterpreted the work of Ivan Ilyin along with exaggerating the influence of Ilyin on Putin and Russia in general. Robinson also says that Snyder overestimates the influence of Russia on the decision for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.[9]

According to the WorldCat the book has been translated into 10 languages: German, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech, Polish, and Japanese, and also in Finnish. It was translated into Ukrainian in 2020.[10]

On March 10, 2022, The Los Angeles Times included the book into its list of 12 essential books on Ukraine, Russia and Putin.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ Lucas, Edward (March 24, 2018). "Review: The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder — why the West is losing to Putin". The Times. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  2. ^ "Understand Putin by understanding his favourite thinkers". The Economist. April 5, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  3. ^ Adams, Tim (April 15, 2018). "The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder review – chilling and unignorable". The Guardian. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  4. ^ "Are We Traveling the 'Road to Unfreedom'?". The New York Times. May 9, 2018.
  5. ^ Adams, Tim (15 April 2018). "The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder review – chilling and unignorable". the Guardian.
  6. ^ Kolasa, Matthew (August 21, 2018). "Walking the Road to Unfreedom". Fair Observer. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  7. ^ Maitra, Sumantra. "This Is Not How We Got Here". University Bookman. Kirk Center. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  8. ^ Pinkham, Sophie (May 3, 2018). "Zombie History: Timothy Snyder's bleak vision of the past and present". The Nation. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  9. ^ "Book Review: The Road to Unfreedom". wordpress. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  10. ^ "Шлях до несвободи. Росія, Європа, Америка". The Ukrainians (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  11. ^ Gwinn, Mary Ann (2022-03-10). "12 essential books on Ukraine, Russia and Putin". Los Angeles Times.


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