Book review: Stark, shuddering story of polarised world should be a wake-up call

The sense of deepening threat and myriad charges of complicity and naivety levelled at liberal democracies likes ours are profoundly disturbing

American journalist and historian Anne Applebaum says  we take our privileges and opportunities, our security and the newly-found tolerances that recognise human diversity, far too much for granted. File picture: Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images

• Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Rule The World 
• Anne Applebaum 
• Allen Lane, hb €24