July Book Club

Our July NOVA Blue Squad Book Club will be held in Arlington, hosted in an NBS member’s home.

We’ll be discussing Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World by Anne Applebaum—a 2024 NYT Bestseller and Amazon Editors’ Pick. In this gripping and timely book, Applebaum exposes how modern autocracies—from Russia to China to Iran—are powered by global networks of wealth, surveillance, and disinformation. A favorite of historian Heather Cox Richardson, this one’s a fast, thought-provoking read (224 pages, available on Kindle and in local libraries).

Here is a brief synopsis:
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.

But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are
underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate acrossmultiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.

Heads up: No August meeting—but we’ll resume in September with Everyone Who is Gone is Here by Jonathan Blitzer. This powerful narrative traces the human stories behind today’s immigration crisis, following migrants and the policymakers who shape their fates. A 2024 NYT Top Ten Pick and award winner, it’s deeply reported and emotionally resonant—perfect for summer reading. (544 pages, available in libraries and on Kindle.)

Here is a brief synopsis:
An epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate, by New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer.