Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

by Anne Applebaum

Nostalgics, the Russian artist and essayist Svetlana Boym wrote in her elegant book The Future of Nostalgia, come in two forms. Some are captivated by what she called the “reflective” nostalgia of the émigré or the aesthete, the nostalgia that appeals to collectors of yellowed letters and sepia photographs, the nostalgia of those who like old churches even if they never go to services. Reflective nostalgics miss the past and dream about the past. Some of them study the past and even mourn the past, especially their own personal past. But they do not really want the past back. Perhaps this is because, deep down, they know that the old homestead is in ruins, or because it has been gentrified beyond recognition—or because they quietly recognize that they wouldn’t much like it now anyway. Once upon a time life might have been sweeter or simpler, but it was also more dangerous, or more boring, or perhaps more unjust.