It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
The Road to Unfreedom

The Road to Unfreedom

Russia, Europe, America

Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Road to Unfreedom, written and read by Timothy Snyder.

The past is another country, the old saying goes. The same might be said of the future. But which country? For Europeans and Americans today, the answer is Russia.


Today's Russia is an oligarchy propped up by illusions and repression. But it also represents the fulfilment of tendencies already present in the West. And if Moscow's drive to dissolve Western states and values succeeds, this could become our reality too.

In this visionary work of contemporary history, Timothy Snyder shows how Russia works within the West to destroy the West; by supporting the far right in Europe, invading Ukraine in 2014, and waging a cyberwar during the 2016 presidential campaign and the EU referendum. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the creation of Donald Trump, an American failure deployed as a Russian weapon.

But this threat presents an opportunity to better understand the pillars of our freedoms, confront our own complacency and seek renewal. History never ends, and this new challenge forces us to face the choices that will determine the future: equality or oligarchy, individualism or totalitarianism, truth or lies.

The Road to Unfreedom helps us to see our world as if for the first time. It is necessary reading for any citizen of a democracy.

‘A brilliant and disturbing analysis, which should be read by anyone wishing to understand the political crisis currently engulfing the world.’ YUVAL NOAH HARARI, author of SAPIENS and HOMO DEUS

Reviews

  • A brilliant and disturbing analysis, which should be read by anyone wishing to understand the political crisis currently engulfing the world
    YUVAL NOAH HARARI, author of SAPIENS and HOMO DEUS

About the author

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder has been called ‘the leading interpreter of our dark times’. As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge towards counsel and prediction, working against authoritarians and populists.


He teaches history and global affairs at Yale University and his books, which have been published in over forty languages, include Bloodlands, Black Earth, On Tyranny, Road to Unfreedom and Our Malady. His work has inspired poster campaigns and exhibitions, sculptures, a punk rock song, a rap song, a play and an opera, and he has appeared in over fifty films and documentaries.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more