With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal parliamentary democracy seemed definitive. However, things did not unfold exactly that way. New types of authoritarian regimes have emerged - and continue to emerge - some even claiming an expanded role on a global scale, through undermining opponents like the European Union and the United States.

Allies in these ambitions include all kinds of far-right and far-left nationalist populists and demagogues in Europe and America. Events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States seem to serve their designs while simultaneously revealing how much more vulnerable than we think Western societies are to such tendencies, influences, and attacks.

Timothy Snyder, with his methodical approach and his obsession with utilizing sources and testimonies that always distinguishes him, sounds the alarm about the dangers threatening hard-won achievements such as democratic institutions and the rule of law.