Autocracy, Inc.
Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum is one of 2026's most credible books, appearing on 1 of the year's most respected lists, including The Economist, for a Consensus Score of 15 out of 100.
Appears on these lists
Our take
AI-draftedApplebaum's central move is reframing autocracies not as isolated strongmen but as a loose, mutually reinforcing network — sharing surveillance tech, laundering each other's money, coordinating propaganda — despite having no shared ideology beyond staying in power. Reviewers were most persuaded by the sections tracing the financial plumbing that lets kleptocratic wealth move through Western banks and shell companies. It's less a study of any single regime than a map of the infrastructure connecting all of them.
In the press
“Applebaum says the message is this: You may not like our society, but at least we are strong and the democratic world is weak, degenerate, divided and dying.”
Frank Langfitt, NPR
How the Consensus Score is calculated
Our Consensus Score is our own transparent editorial metric — not a user rating. It weighs each list by the credibility of its source, how recent the listing is, and any award status. Here is the full breakdown.
| Source | Authority | Recency | Award | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Economist | 0.95 | 0.70 | 1.00× | 0.67 |
| Weighted sum → Score | 0.67 → 15 | |||
Similar consensus books
Because they appear on some of the same lists.
Frequently asked
What lists is Autocracy, Inc. on?
Autocracy, Inc. appears on 1 list in our 2026 corpus, including The Economist.
What is its Consensus Score?
Autocracy, Inc. has a Consensus Score of 15 out of 100, our transparent editorial measure of how many credible lists agree on it.