Anne Applebaum

{{Infobox person

| name = Anne Applebaum

| image = MS241015 304 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Applebaum in 2024

| birth_name = Anne Elizabeth Applebaum

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|7|25}}{{cite web |url=http://www.citypaper.ee/interview_with_anne_applebaum/ |title=Interview with Anne Applebaum |last=Petrone |first=Justine |work=City Paper |publisher=Baltic News Ltd |access-date=October 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720124829/http://www.citypaper.ee/interview_with_anne_applebaum/ |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| citizenship = {{hlist|United States|Poland

}}

| known_for = Writing on Soviet Union and its satellite countries

| education = {{Plainlist|

}}

| awards = Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction

| spouse = {{Marriage|Radosław Sikorski|June 27, 1992}}

| children = 2

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Anne Elizabeth Applebaum{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/style/weddings-anne-applebaum-radek-sikorski.html |work=The New York Times |title=Weddings: Anne Applebaum, Radek Sikorski |date=June 28, 1992}}{{Cite tweet |user=anneapplebaum |title=Elizabeth is indeed my middle name though I can't imagine that it is important |number=1469788507937857543 }} (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds Polish citizenship as well.

Applebaum has worked at The Economist and The Spectator magazines,{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Nick|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/12/anne-applebaum-how-my-old-friends-paved-the-way-for-trump-and-brexit|title=Anne Applebaum: how my old friends paved the way for Trump and Brexit|work=The Observer|location=London|date=July 12, 2020|access-date=August 4, 2020}} and she was a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post (2002–2006).{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/anne-applebaum/|title=Anne Applebaum|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=April 20, 2017}} She won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2004 for Gulag: A History.{{cite news| url = https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/05pulitzers-arts.html | title = 'The Known World' Wins Pulitzer Prize for Fiction| work = The New York Times|date=April 5, 2004|access-date=March 2, 2020}} She is a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine,{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2019/11/anne-applebaum-joins-atlantic-staff-writer/602083/|title=Anne Applebaum Joins The Atlantic as Staff Writer|date=November 15, 2019|work=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=April 13, 2020}} as well as a senior fellow of the Agora Institute and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University .{{Cite web|url=https://snfagora.jhu.edu/person/anne-applebaum/|title=Anne Applebaum: Stavros Niarchos Foundation SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins|website=snfagora.jhu.edu|access-date=April 13, 2020}}

Early life and education

Applebaum was born in Washington, D.C. to a reform Jewish family, the eldest of three daughters of Harvey M. and Elizabeth Applebaum.{{cite web|last=Lazareva|first=Inna|url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/through-a-communist-looking-glass-then-and-now.premium-1.491882 |title=Through a (communist) looking glass, then and now |website=Haaretz |date=January 4, 2013|access-date=December 11, 2021}} Her father, a Yale alumnus, is senior counsel in the antitrust and international trade practices at Covington & Burling. Her mother was a program coordinator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. According to Applebaum, her great-grandparents immigrated to North America during the reign of Alexander III of Russia from what is now Belarus.{{cite news|url=https://www.svaboda.org/a/29500489.html |title="Беларусі трэба нацыяналізм". Ляўрэатка "Пулітцэра" пра радзіму прадзедаў і выхад з тупіку гісторыі |language=be|newspaper=Радыё Свабода |date=September 23, 2018 |access-date=September 30, 2018|last1=Гурневіч |first1=Дзьмітры }}

After attending Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., Applebaum entered Yale University; there she studied Soviet history under Wolfgang Leonhard during the fall semester of 1982.{{cite book |last1=Applebaum |first1=Anne |title=Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956 |date=2012 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York USA |isbn=9780385515696 |page=282,508}} While an undergraduate, she spent the summer of 1985 in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia), an experience that she credits with helping to shape her opinions.{{Cite news|first=Applebaum|last=Anne|url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/russia-great-forgetting/|title=Russia and the Great Forgetting|work=Commentary|access-date=April 3, 2017}}

Applebaum received her BA from Yale in 1986 summa cum laude in history and literature.{{cite web|title=Anne Applebaum – internationales literaturfestival berlin|url=http://www.literaturfestival.com/archive/participants/authors/2014/anne-applebaum?set_language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302031208/http://www.literaturfestival.com/archive/participants/authors/2014/anne-applebaum?set_language=en|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 2, 2017|access-date=April 3, 2017|website=Literaturfestival.com|language=de}} She was the recipient of a two-year Marshall Scholarship at the London School of Economics, where she earned a master's degree in international relations (1987).{{cite news|title=Anne E. Applebaum to Wed in June|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/08/style/anne-e-applebaum-to-wed-in-june.html|work=The New York Times|date=December 8, 1991

|access-date=April 23, 2008|quote=... is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

}} She also studied at St Antony's College, Oxford,{{cite web |title=Anne Applebaum |url=https://www.oxfordna.org/amer-alumni-authors-march-2018 |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=2 April 2025 |quote=As a celebration of our alumni, each month we will highlight a new book written by one of Oxford's North American-based alumni. For March 2018, our author is Anne Applebaum (St Antony's College, 1986).}} before becoming a correspondent for The Economist and moving to Warsaw, Poland, in 1988.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/biographies/anne-applebaum.html|title=Anne Applebaum|newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=October 3, 2009}}

In November 1989, Applebaum drove from Warsaw to Berlin to report on the collapse of the Berlin Wall.{{cite web |author1=Ivan Krastev |title=The Tragic Romance of the Nostalgic Western Liberal |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/15/the-tragic-romance-of-the-middle-aged-western-liberal/ |publisher=Foreign Policy |access-date=November 15, 2022 |date=August 15, 2020 |quote=1989 was the point of departure of everything that Applebaum did in the following three decades. Her much-praised history books about the Soviet Gulag and the establishment of the communist regimes in Central Europe were her historical introduction to the inevitability of 1989.}}

Career

As foreign correspondent for The Economist and The Independent, she covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism. In 1991 she returned to England to work for The Economist; she was later hired as the foreign editor and subsequently deputy editor of The Spectator, and later the political editor of the Evening Standard.{{Cite web |title=Anne Applebaum |url=https://ninedotsprize.org/board_members/anne-applebaum/ |access-date=September 1, 2022 |website=The Nine Dots Prize |language=en-GB}} In 1994, she published her first book, Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe, a travelogue that described the rise of nationalism across the new states of the former Soviet Union.{{Cite web |last=Hopley |first=Claire |title=Book Review: 'Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe' |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/23/book-review-between-east-and-west-across-the-borde/ |date=July 23, 2017 |access-date=September 1, 2022 |website=The Washington Times |language=en-US}} In 2001, she interviewed prime minister Tony Blair.{{Cite news|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4722273/I-am-still-normal.html|title=I am still normal|work=The Telegraph|date=March 19, 2001|access-date=September 27, 2021}} She also undertook historical research for her book Gulag: A History (2003), about the Soviet prison camp system, which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.{{cite web|url=http://archives.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005102224&var_Year=2004&var_Month=11&var_Day=17|title=From concentration camps to cotton|date=March 25, 2005 |work=Idaho Mountain express and guide.|publisher=Express publishing inc.|access-date=October 3, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2004-General-Nonfiction|title=The 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winners General Nonfiction|access-date=October 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002161041/http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2004-General-Nonfiction|archive-date=October 2, 2009 |url-status=live}} It was also nominated for a National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times book award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.[https://www.randomhouseacademic.com/search?q=Gulag%3A+A+History Award Winning Books]{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Random House website

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?175993-1/gulag-history- Booknotes interview with Applebaum on Gulag, May 25, 2003], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?309623-1/qa-anne-applebaum Q&A interview with Applebaum on Iron Curtain, December 16, 2012], C-SPAN }}

Applebaum has been a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post, and she was a columnist for the newspaper for seventeen years.{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2019/11/anne-applebaum-joins-atlantic-staff-writer/602083/|title=Press Release: Anne Applebaum Joins The Atlantic as Staff Writer|work=The Atlantic|date=November 15, 2019|access-date=March 2, 2020}} In addition, she was an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.{{cite news|url=http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=17660|title=Turning Abkhazia into a War |last=Leonard |first=Brooke|date=May 8, 2008|work=National Interest|location=New York City |access-date=December 31, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113214131/http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=17660 |archive-date=January 13, 2009|url-status=dead}}

Her second history book, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–56, was published in 2012 by Doubleday (in the US) and Allen Lane (in the UK); it was nominated for a National Book Award and shortlisted for the 2013 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.pen.org/literature/2013-penjohn-kenneth-galbraith-award|title=2013 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award – PEN America|website=Pen.org|date=July 25, 2013 |access-date=April 3, 2017}} From 2011 to 2016, she created and ran the Transitions Forum at the Legatum Institute, an international think tank and educational charity based in London. Among other projects, she ran a two-year program examining the relationship between democracy and growth in Brazil, India, and South Africa;{{Cite web|url=http://www.li.com/programmes/democracy-works|title=Democracy Works|website=li.com|language=en|access-date=April 17, 2017|archive-date=January 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128191107/https://www.li.com/programmes/democracy-works|url-status=dead}} created the Future of Syria{{Cite web |last=Ghani |first=Ashraf |last2=Lockhart |first2=Clare |title=Preparing for a Syrian Transition: Lessons from the Past, Thinking for the Future |url=https://lif.blob.core.windows.net/lif/docs/default-source/publications/preparing-for-a-syrian-transition_ghani_lockhart_november-2012.pdf?sfvrsn=0 |url-status=live |access-date=May 24, 2025}} and Future of Iran projects{{Cite web|url=http://www.li.com/programmes/the-future-of-iran|title=The Future of Iran |website=li.com |language=en|access-date=April 17, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418081945/http://www.li.com/programmes/the-future-of-iran|archive-date=April 18, 2017}} on institutional change in those countries; and commissioned a series of papers on corruption in Georgia,{{Cite web |last=Pomerantsev |first=Peter |last2=Robertson |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Ratković |first3=Jovan |last4=Applebaum |first4=Anne |date=June 2014 |title=Revolutionary Tactics: Insights from Police and Justice Reform in Georgia |url=https://lif.blob.core.windows.net/lif/docs/default-source/publications/georgia_transitions_a4_2014web.pdf?sfvrsn=0 |url-status=live}} Moldova,{{Cite web |last=Soloviev |first=Vladimir |date=July 2014 |others=Translated and edited by Olga Khvostunova |title=Moldova: The Failing Champion of European Integration |url=https://lif.blob.core.windows.net/lif/docs/default-source/publications/moldova-the-failing-champion-of-european-integration-a4.pdf?sfvrsn=0 |url-status=live}} and Ukraine.{{Cite web |last=Bullough |first=Oliver |date=July 2014 |title=Looting Ukraine: How East and West Teamed up to Steal a Country |url=https://lif.blob.core.windows.net/lif/docs/default-source/publications/ukraine_imr_a4_web.pdf?sfvrsn=0 |url-status=live}}

With Foreign Policy magazine she created Democracy Lab, a website focusing on countries in transition toward or away from democracy;{{Cite web|url=http://www.li.com/programmes/democracy-lab|title=Democracy Lab|website=li.com|language=en|access-date=April 17, 2017|archive-date=January 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128191150/https://www.li.com/programmes/democracy-lab|url-status=dead}} this later became Democracy Post{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/|title=DemocracyPost|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 17, 2017}} at The Washington Post. She also ran Beyond Propaganda,{{Cite web|url=http://www.li.com/programmes/beyond-propaganda|title=Beyond Propaganda|website=li.com|language=en|access-date=April 17, 2017|archive-date=July 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706000319/http://www.li.com/programmes/beyond-propaganda|url-status=dead}} a program examining 21st century propaganda and disinformation. Started in 2014, the program anticipated later debates about "fake news". In 2016, she left Legatum because of its stance on Brexit after the Euroskeptic Philippa Stroud was appointed as CEO;{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/londoners-diary-loves-legatum-lost-in-battle-over-brexit-a3415381.html|title=Londoner's Diary: Love's Legatum Lost in battle over Brexit|date=December 8, 2016|work=Evening Standard|access-date=April 17, 2017|language=en-GB}} Applebaum then joined the London School of Economics (LSE) as a professor of practice at the Institute for Global Affairs. At the LSE, she ran Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st century propaganda.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/iga/people/home.aspx|title=People |publisher=London School of Economics|language=en-GB|access-date=April 13, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In the autumn of 2019, she moved the program to the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

In October 2017, she published her third history book, Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, a history of the Holodomor (the 1932–1933 human-made famine in Soviet Ukraine). The book won the Lionel Gelber Prize{{Cite web|url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/anne-applebaums-red-famine-wins-the-2018-lionel-gelber-prize-676698163.html|title=Anne Applebaum's Red Famine Wins the 2018 Lionel Gelber Prize|last=Prize|first=The Lionel Gelber|website=newswire.ca|language=en|access-date=April 13, 2020}} and the Duff Cooper Prize,{{Cite web|url=http://www.theduffcooperprize.org/past-duff-cooper-prize-winners|title=Past Winners of The Duff Cooper Prize – The Duff Cooper Prize|website=theduffcooperprize.org|access-date=April 13, 2020|archive-date=September 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190912231809/http://www.theduffcooperprize.org/past-duff-cooper-prize-winners|url-status=dead}} making her the only author to win the Duff Cooper Prize twice.{{Cite web |last=Cowdrey |first=Katherine |date=May 11, 2018 |title=Applebaum wins Duff Cooper Prize for a second time |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/news/applebaum-wins-pol-roger-duff-cooper-prize-second-time-784531 |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}

In November 2019, The Atlantic announced that Applebaum would join the publication as a staff writer starting in January 2020. She was included in Prospect magazine's 2020 list of the top 50 thinkers for the COVID-19 era.{{Cite magazine|year=2020|title=The world's top 50 thinkers for the Covid-19 age|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/content/uploads/2020/09/PWTT20.pdf|magazine=Prospect|access-date=September 8, 2020|archive-date=September 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907185002/https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/content/uploads/2020/09/PWTT20.pdf|url-status=dead}}

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?474421-1/twilight-democracy Presentation by Applebaum on Twilight of Democracy, July 21, 2020], C-SPAN}}

In July 2020, her book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism was published. Partly a memoir and partly political analysis, it was on the bestseller lists of Der Spiegel magazine{{Cite web|title=Spiegel Bestseller: Sachbuch / Hardcover (Nr. 13/2021) – versandkostenfrei online kaufen – Lehmanns.de|url=https://www.lehmanns.de/listing/2280-spiegel-bestseller-sachbuch-hardcover-nr-13-2021|access-date=September 27, 2021|website=lehmanns.de|language=de|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927145701/https://www.lehmanns.de/listing/2280-spiegel-bestseller-sachbuch-hardcover-nr-13-2021|url-status=dead}} and The New York Times.{{Cite news|title=Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers – Books – August 9, 2020 – The New York Times|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2020/08/09/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/|access-date=September 27, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} Also in July 2020, Applebaum was one of 153 signers of the "Harper's Letter" (also known as "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate"); this expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."{{Cite magazine |date=July 7, 2020 |title=A Letter on Justice and Open Debate {{!}} Harper's Magazine |url=https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ |access-date=August 23, 2022 |magazine=Harper's Magazine |language=en}}

In November 2022, Applebaum was one of 200 US citizens who were sanctioned by Russia for "promotion of the Russophobic campaign and support for the regime in Kiev."{{cite news |title=Russia Bans Entry To Biden's Siblings, US Senators |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/russia-bans-entry-to-biden-s-siblings-us-senators-01668188406 |access-date=November 13, 2022 |work=Agence France Press |publisher=Barrons |date=November 11, 2022 |quote=The [Russian] foreign ministry said the 200 US nationals included officials and legislators, their close relatives, heads of companies and experts "involved in the promotion of the Russophobic campaign and support for the regime in Kiev" ... [including] US writer and Russia expert Anne Applebaum}}

Applebaum is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.{{cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/roster.html |title=Membership Roster – Council on Foreign Relations |website=Cfr.org |access-date=April 3, 2017}} She is also on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and Renew Democracy Initiative.{{cite web|url=http://www.ned.org/about/board-of-directors/|title=Board of Directors – NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY|website=Ned.org|language=en-US|access-date=March 28, 2017}}{{cite news |last=Boot |first=Max |date=April 25, 2018 |title=The political center is fighting back |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-political-center-is-fighting-back/2018/04/25/6170f646-489b-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post }} She was a member of the international board of directors of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.{{Cite web|url=https://iwpr.net/about|title=About IWPR {{!}} Institute for War and Peace Reporting|date=December 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206145719/https://iwpr.net/about|access-date=January 17, 2020|archive-date=December 6, 2014}} In addition, she was a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), where she co-led a major initiative aimed at countering Russian disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).{{Cite web|url=http://cepa.org/anne-aplebaum|title=Anne Applebaum {{!}} CEPA|date=April 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409230453/http://cepa.org/anne-aplebaum|access-date=February 25, 2020|archive-date=April 9, 2016}} She was also on the editorial boards of The American Interest magazine{{cite web|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/masthead/ |title=The American Interest |publisher=The American Interest |access-date=April 3, 2017}} and the Journal of Democracy.{{cite web|url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/about/editorial-board-and-staff |title=Editorial Board and Staff |publisher=Journal of Democracy |date=November 29, 2016 |access-date=April 3, 2017}}{{when|date=January 2023}}

Positions

= Soviet Union and Russia =

According to Sheila Fitzpatrick, "Applebaum has been active as a political commentator highly critical of Russia and Putin’s regime." Ivan Krastev stated that the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall "was the point of departure of everything that Applebaum did in the following three decades...For her, the end of the Cold War was not a geopolitical story; it was a moral story, a verdict pronounced by history itself."{{cite news |author1=Ivan Krastev |author1-link=Ivan Krastev |title=The Tragic Romance of the Nostalgic Western Liberal |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/15/the-tragic-romance-of-the-middle-aged-western-liberal/ |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=Foreign Policy |date=August 15, 2020 |quote=Applebaum’s political identity was made by her admiration for the moral courage of East European dissidents and her belief in the potential of the United States to make the world a better place.}}

Applebaum has been writing about the Soviet Union and Russia since the early 1990s. In 2000, she described the links between the then-new president of Russia, Vladimir Putin; the former Soviet leader Yuri Andropov; and the former KGB agency.{{cite news |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/secret-agent-man/article/12293|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829140652/http://www.weeklystandard.com/secret-agent-man/article/12293|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 29, 2017|first=Applebaum|last=Anne|title=Secret Agent Man|date=April 10, 2000|work=Weekly Standard |access-date=April 3, 2017}} In 2008, she began speaking about Putinism as an anti-democratic ideology, though most people at the time still considered the Russian president to be a pro-Western pragmatist.{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanacademy.de/home/program/past/putinism-ideology|title=American Academy}}

Applebaum has been a vocal critic of Western conduct toward the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. In an article in The Washington Post on March 5, 2014, she maintained that the US and its allies should not continue to enable "the existence of a corrupt Russian regime that is destabilizing Europe", noting that the actions of President Vladimir Putin had violated "a series of international treaties".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anne-applebaum-russias-western-enablers/2014/03/05/bcba2a88-a4a6-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html |last=Applebaum|first=Anne|title=Russia's Western enablers |date=March 5, 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post }} On March 7, in another article on The Daily Telegraph, discussing an information war, Applebaum argued that "a robust campaign to tell the truth about Crimea is needed to counter Moscow's lies".{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10683298/Russias-information-warriors-are-on-the-march-we-must-respond.html |last=Applebaum|first=Anne|title=Russia's information warriors are on the march – we must respond |date=March 7, 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph }} At the end of August, she asked whether Ukraine should prepare for "total war" with Russia and whether central Europeans should join them.{{cite web |last=Applebaum |first=Anne |date=August 29, 2014 |title=War in Europe |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/08/vladimir_putin_s_troops_have_invaded_ukraine_should_we_prepare_for_war_with.html |work=Slate |access-date=September 1, 2014 }} Critics of Applebaum's, including journalist Glenn Greenwald, have called her a "warmonger" and a "neocon".{{Cite web |last=Greenwald |first=Glenn |title=Supreme Neocon Warmonger Anne Applebaum Awarded Peace Prize |url=https://greenwald.locals.com/post/5829272/supreme-neocon-warmonger-anne-applebaum-awarded-peace-prize |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=greenwald.locals.com}}{{Cite web |last=Applebaum |first=Anne |date=2022-03-01 |title=The Impossible Suddenly Became Possible |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putins-war-dispelled-the-worlds-illusions/623335/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

In 2014, she wrote a review of Karen Dawisha's book Putin's Kleptocracy for The New York Review of Books; in the review, she asked whether "the most important story of the past twenty years might not, in fact, have been the failure of democracy, but the rise of a new form of Russian authoritarianism".{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/12/18/how-he-and-his-cronies-stole-russia/|title=How He and His Cronies Stole Russia|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|website=The New York Review of Books|date=December 18, 2014|access-date=April 3, 2017}} She has described the "myth of Russian humiliation", and she argued that NATO and EU expansion have been a "phenomenal success".{{cite news|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anne-applebaum-nato-pays-a-heavy-price-for-giving-russia-too-much-credita-true-achievement-under-threat/2014/10/17/5b3a6f2a-5617-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html|title=The myth of Russian humiliation|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 17, 2014|access-date=April 3, 2017|issn=0190-8286}} In July 2016, before the US election, she wrote about connections between Donald Trump and Russia;{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-a-trump-presidency-could-destabilize-europe/2016/07/21/9ec38a20-4f75-11e6-a422-83ab49ed5e6a_story.html|title=How a Trump presidency could destabilize Europe |last=Applebaum |first=Anne|date=July 21, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 3, 2017|issn=0190-8286}} she wrote that Russian support for Trump was part of a wider Russian political campaign designed to destabilize the West.{{cite news|last1=Applebaum|first1=Anne|last2=Lucas|first2=Edward |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-danger-of-russian-disinformation/2016/05/06/b31d9718-12d5-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html|title=The danger of Russian disinformation|date=May 6, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 3, 2017|issn=0190-8286}} In December 2019, she wrote in The Atlantic that "in the 21st century, we must also contend with a new phenomenon: right-wing intellectuals, now deeply critical of their own societies, who have begun paying court to right-wing dictators who dislike America."{{Cite web|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|date=December 12, 2019|title=The False Romance of Russia|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/false-romance-russia/603433/|access-date=September 27, 2021|work=The Atlantic|language=en}}

= Central Europe =

Applebaum has written about the history of central and eastern Europe, Poland in particular. In the conclusion to her book Iron Curtain, Applebaum argued that the reconstruction of civil society was the most important and most difficult challenge for the post-communist states of central Europe; in another essay, she argued that the modern authoritarian obsession with civil society repression dates back to Vladimir Lenin.{{Cite journal|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|date=October 19, 2015|title=The Leninist Roots of Civil Society Repression|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/595919|journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=26 |issue=4|pages=21–27|doi=10.1353/jod.2015.0068|s2cid=146420524 |issn=1086-3214}} She has written essays on the Polish film-maker Andrzej Wajda;{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/02/14/a-movie-that-matters/|title=A Movie That Matters|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|website=The New York Review of Books|access-date=April 11, 2017}} the dual Nazi–Soviet occupation of central Europe;{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/11/11/worst-madness/ |title=The Worst of the Madness|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|website=The New York Review of Books|access-date=April 11, 2017}} and why it is inaccurate to define Eastern Europe as a single entity.{{Cite web|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/does-eastern-europe-still-exist|first=Applebaum|last=Anne|title=Does Eastern Europe still exist? |website=Prospect Magazine |language=en-US|access-date=April 11, 2017}}

= Disinformation, propaganda and fake news =

In 2014, Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev launched Beyond Propaganda, a program examining disinformation and propaganda, at the Legatum Institute.{{Cite web|url=http://www.li.com/programmes/beyond-propaganda|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706000319/http://www.li.com/programmes/beyond-propaganda|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 6, 2015|title=Beyond Propaganda |website=li.com|language=en|access-date=April 20, 2017}} Applebaum wrote about a 2014 Russian smear campaign against her while she was writing heavily about the Russian annexation of Crimea. She stated that dubious material posted on the web was eventually recycled by semi-respectable, American, pro-Russian websites.{{Cite news|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/i-was-a-victim-of-a-russian-smear-campaign-i-understand-the-power-of-fake-news/2016/12/20/0dfdc2aa-c606-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html|title=I was a victim of a Russian smear campaign. I understand the power of fake news. |date=December 20, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 11, 2017|issn=0190-8286}} Applebaum argued in 2015 that Facebook should take responsibility for spreading false stories and help to "undo the terrible damage done by Facebook and other forms of social media to democratic debate and civilized discussion all over the world".{{Cite news|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mark-zuckerberg-could-spend-45-billion-on-undoing-facebooks-damage/2015/12/10/4b7d1ba0-9e91-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html|title=Mark Zuckerberg should spend $45 billion on undoing Facebook's damage to democracies|date=December 10, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 11, 2017|issn=0190-8286}} Applebaum has been a member of the advisory panel for the organization Global Disinformation Index.{{cite news |url=https://reason.com/2023/02/28/global-disinformation-index-lab-leak-theory-media-misinfo/ |title=Global Disinformation Index, Inform Thyself |publisher=Reason |date=28 February 2023 |first=Robby |last=Soave |access-date=22 June 2024}}

= Nationalism =

In March 2016, eight months before the election of President Donald Trump, Applebaum wrote a column for The Washington Post asking, "Is this the end of the West as we know it?"; the column argued that "we are two or three bad elections away from the end of NATO, the end of the European Union and maybe the end of the liberal world order".{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-and-the-end-of-nato/2016/03/04/e8c4b9ca-e146-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_story.html|title=Is this the end of the West as we know it? |last=Applebaum|first=Anne|date=March 4, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 3, 2017 |language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} Applebaum endorsed Hillary Clinton's campaign for US president in July 2016, on the grounds that Trump is "a man who appears bent on destroying the alliances that preserve international peace and American power".{{cite news|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/why-we-need-a-president-clinton/2016/07/28/aaa40e76-54ef-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html|title=Why we need a President Clinton|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 28, 2016}}

Applebaum wrote a column in The Washington Post in March 2016 that led the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger and the German magazine Der Spiegel to interview her. These articles appeared in December 2016{{Cite news |url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/amerika/es-liegt-etwas-aehnliches-in-der-luft-wie-in-den-1930erjahren/story/27519272 |title=Ähnlich wie in den 1930er-Jahren |last1=Cassidy |first1=Alan |last2=Loser |first2=Philipp |date=December 27, 2016 |work=Tages-Anzeiger |access-date=April 3, 2017 |language=de |issn=1422-9994}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/anne-applebaum-interview-about-president-donald-trump-a-1130988.html |title=Historian Anne Applebaum on Trump: 'Protest Is Insufficient' |website=Der Spiegel |date=January 20, 2017 |access-date=April 20, 2017|last1=Scheuermann |first1=Christoph |last2=Repinski |first2=Gordon }} and January 2017. She was among the first to argue that the international populist movement frequently labeled as "far right" or "alt right" was not actually conservative as this term has traditionally been defined. She wrote that populist groups in Europe share "ideas and ideology, friends and founders"; unlike Burkean conservatives, they seek to "overthrow the institutions of the present to bring back things that existed in the past—or that they believe existed in the past—by force."{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-is-a-threat-to-the-west-as-we-know-it-even-if-he-loses/2016/11/04/a8dc9100-a2cc-11e6-a44d-cc2898cfab06_story.html|title=Trump is a threat to the West as we know it, even if he loses|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|date=November 4, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 3, 2017 |language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} Applebaum has underlined the danger of a new "Nationalist International", a union of xenophobic, nationalist parties such as Law and Justice in Poland, the Northern League in Italy, and the Freedom Party in Austria.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fopinions%2fglobal-opinions%2fthe-anti-europeans-have-a-plan-for-crippling-the-european-union%2f2019%2f01%2f13%2fd8af6ab0-15ed-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html%3f|first=Applebaum|last=Anne|title=The anti-Europeans have a plan for crippling the European Union|date=January 15, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In January 2022, Applebaum was invited to testify before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives; the committee hearing was titled "Bolstering Democracy in the Age of Rising Authoritarianism".{{Cite web|date=January 20, 2022|title=Roundtable: Bolstering Democracy in the Age of Rising Authoritarianism|url=https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/2022/1/bolstering-democracy-in-the-age-of-rising-authoritarianism_2|access-date=January 18, 2022|website=House Foreign Affairs Committee|language=en}}

Personal life

In 1992, Applebaum married Radosław Sikorski, who later served as Poland's Minister of National Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marshal of the Sejm, and a member of the European Parliament. Since 2023, he has again served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The couple has two sons, Aleksander and Tadeusz.{{cite web|url=http://www.msz.gov.pl/Minister,of,Foreign,Affairs,Radoslaw,Sikorski,13614.html|title=Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski|date=April 23, 2008|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411205952/http://www.msz.gov.pl/Minister%2Cof%2CForeign%2CAffairs%2CRadoslaw%2CSikorski%2C13614.html|archive-date=April 11, 2008|url-status=live|access-date=April 23, 2008|quote=Radosław Sikorski is married to journalist and writer Anne Applebaum, who won the 2004 Pulitzer prize for her book "Gulag: A History". They have two sons: Aleksander and Tadeusz.}} She gained Polish citizenship in 2013;{{cite news

|url=http://www.polskatimes.pl/artykul/981469,anne-applebaum-zona-radoslawa-sikorskiego-to-dzis-jedna-z-najbardziej-wplywowych-polek,id,t.html

|title=Anne Applebaum. Żona Radosława Sikorskiego to dziś jedna z najbardziej wpływowych Polek |newspaper=Portal I.pl |access-date=August 31, 2013

|date=August 31, 2013

|publisher=Times of Polska

|quote=Anne Applebaum jest już pełnoprawną Polką.}} she speaks Polish and Russian in addition to English.{{Cite web |last1=Long |first1=Karen R. |title=Anne Applebaum's new investigative history, 'Iron Curtain,' is essential reading |work=The Plain Dealer |url=http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2012/11/anne_applebaums_new_investigat.html |date=November 10, 2012 |access-date=August 30, 2017 }}

Awards and honors

1992 Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust Award
2003 National Book Award Nonfiction, finalist, for Gulag: A History{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2003 |title=2003 National Book Awards Winners and Finalists, The National Book Foundation |website=Nationalbook.org |access-date=April 3, 2017}}
2003 Duff Cooper Prize for Gulag: A History
2004 Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) for Gulag: A History{{cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-Nonfiction |title=The Pulitzer Prizes General Nonfiction |work=Pulitzer Prize |access-date=November 28, 2012}}
2008 Estonian Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana third class
2008 Lithuanian Millennium Star{{cite web |author=Agnieszka Kazimierczuk |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/209126-Applebaum-otrzymala--Gwiazde-Millenium-Litwy--.html |title=Applebaum otrzymała "Gwiazdę Millenium Litwy" – Literatura |website=Rzeczpospolita |access-date=April 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328195238/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/209126-Applebaum-otrzymala--Gwiazde-Millenium-Litwy--.html |archive-date=March 28, 2017 |url-status=dead }}
2010 Petőfi Prize
2012 Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland{{cite web |url=http://www.prezydent.pl/archiwum-bronislawa-komorowskiego/aktualnosci/ordery-i-odznaczenia/art,1157,odznaczenia-panstwowe-w-swieto-niepodleglosci.html |title=Odznaczenia państwowe w Święto Niepodległości / Ordery i odznaczenia / Aktualności / Archiwum Bronisława Komorowskiego / Oficjalna strona Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej |website=Prezydent.pl |access-date=April 3, 2017 |archive-date=September 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927064202/https://www.prezydent.pl/archiwum-bronislawa-komorowskiego/aktualnosci/ordery-i-odznaczenia/art,1157,odznaczenia-panstwowe-w-swieto-niepodleglosci.html |url-status=dead }}
2012 National Book Award (Nonfiction), finalist, for Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956{{cite web |url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/in-the-bookroom/national-book-award-finalists-announced-today/ |title=National Book Award Finalists Announced Today |work=Library Journal |date=October 10, 2012 |access-date=November 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121206014159/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/in-the-bookroom/national-book-award-finalists-announced-today/ |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |url-status=dead }}
2013 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature for Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/anne-applebaum-wins-2013-cundill-prize-231726|title=Ann Applebaum wins 2013 Cundill Prize|author=Press Release|publisher=McGill University|date=November 21, 2013|access-date=December 24, 2013}}
2013 Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature for Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956{{cite web|url=https://rusi.org/event/duke-westminster-medal-military-literature-2013|title=Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature 2013|author=Royal United Services Institute|author-link=Royal United Services Institute|date=December 5, 2013|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=March 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305050926/https://rusi.org/event/duke-westminster-medal-military-literature-2013|url-status=dead}}
2017 Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa, Georgetown University{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehoya.com/commencement-speakers-present-varied-experiences/|title=Commencement Speakers Present Varied Experiences|date=May 19, 2017|access-date=May 22, 2017|language=en-US}}
2017 Honorary Doctorate, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy{{Cite news|url=http://kmfoundation.org/2017/9540|title=Anne Applebaum receives an Honorary Doctorate at NaUKMA|date=December 16, 2017|work=Kyiv Mohyla Foundation of America|access-date=December 22, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=December 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223044056/http://kmfoundation.org/2017/9540|url-status=dead}}
2017 Duff Cooper Prize for Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine
2017 Antonovych Prize{{cite web|url=https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/anne-applebaum-honored-with-antonovych-award/|title=Anne Applebaum honored with Antonovych Award|work=The Ukrainian Weekly|date=November 10, 2017|first=Yaro|last=Bihun|access-date=January 1, 2022}}
2018 Lionel Gelber Prize for Red Famine: Stalin's War on UkrainePress Release: [https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/anne-applebaums-red-famine-wins-the-2018-lionel-gelber-prize-676698163.html Anne Applebaum's Red Famine Wins the 2018 Lionel Gelber Prize], CISION, March 13, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
2018 Honorary Fritz Stern Professor, University of Wrocław{{Cite news|url=http://kultura.dziennik.pl/news/artykuly/582454,anne-applebaum-laureatka-nagroda-fritz-stern.html|title=Anne Applebaum uhonorowana prestiżową nagrodą im. Fritza Sterna|date=October 3, 2018}}
2019 Premio Nonino "Maestro del nostro tempo" ("Master of our Time"){{Cite web|url=http://premio.grappanonino.it/en/winner/anne-applebaum/|title=Anne Applebaum|website=Premio Nonino 2018|language=en-US|access-date=January 26, 2019}}
2019 Order of Princess Olga, third class{{Cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2019/11/23/7232839/|title=Зеленський нагородив іноземок за діяльність щодо правди про Голодомор|website=Українська правда}}
2021 National Magazine Awards finalist in categories "Essays and Criticism" and "Columns and Commentary"{{Cite web|title=The American Society of Magazine Editors Announce Finalists for 2021 National Magazine Awards|url=https://www.asme.media/the-american-society-of-magazine-editors-announce-finalists-for-2021-national-magazine-awards|access-date=May 13, 2021|website=asme.media}}
2021 Premio Internacional de Periodismo de EL MUNDO{{Cite web|date=December 1, 2021|title=El Prado de Anne Applebaum, de El Bosco a 'Duelo a garrotazos'|url=https://www.elmundo.es/papel/cultura/2021/12/01/61a762fefdddffa71c8b45c5.html|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=ELMUNDO|language=es}}
2022 Order of Princess Olga, second class{{Cite web |date=August 23, 2022 |title=Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 595/2022 |url=https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/5952022-43765 |access-date=September 12, 2022 |newspaper=Офіційне Інтернет-Представництво Президента України}}
2024 Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels{{Cite web |title=Anne Applebaum wins German peace prize for 2024 – DW – 06/25/2024 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/anne-applebaum-wins-german-peace-prize-for-2024/a-69463118 |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=dw.com |language=en}}

Selected Publications

Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe, Pantheon, (1994), reprinted by Random House, 1995; Penguin, 2015; and Anchor, 2017, {{isbn|0679421505}}
Gulag: A History, Doubleday, (2003), 677 pages, {{ISBN|0-7679-0056-1}}; paperback, Bantam Dell, 2004, 736 pages, {{ISBN|1-4000-3409-4}}
Gulag Voices : An Anthology, Yale University Press, (2011), 224 pages, {{ISBN|9780300177831}}; hardback
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956, Allen Lane, (2012), 614 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-713-99868-9}} / Doubleday {{ISBN|978-0-385-51569-6}}
From a Polish Country House Kitchen, Chronicle Books, (2012), 288 pages, {{ISBN|1-452-11055-7}}; hardback
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, Penguin Randomhouse, (2017){{Cite book|url=http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236713/red-famine-by-anne-applebaum/9780385538855/|title=Red Famine by Anne Applebaum {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com|language=en-US}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/25/red-famine-stalins-war-on-ukraine-anne-applebaum-review?CMP=share_btn_fb|title=Red Famine by Anne Applebaum review – did Stalin deliberately let Ukraine starve?|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Sheila|author-link=Sheila Fitzpatrick|quote=For scholars, the most interesting part of the book will be the two excellent historiographical chapters in which she teases out the political and scholarly impulses tending to minimise the famine in Soviet times ('The Cover-Up') and does the same for post-Soviet Ukrainian exploitation of the issue ('The Holodomor in History and Memory')|date=August 25, 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=August 25, 2017}}
Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Doubleday, (2020), 224 pages, {{ISBN|978-0385545808}}; hardback
Wybór (Choice), Agora, (2021), 320 pages, {{ISBN|978-8326838255}}; hardback
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Doubleday, (2024), 224 pages, {{ISBN|978-0385549936}}; hardback

References

External links

{{Official website}}
{{Muckrack}}
{{C-SPAN|1004107}}
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/anne-applebaum/ Anne Applebaum columns] for The Washington Post
{{YouTube|Wt_6mPxgUNI|Putinism: the ideology}} – 1:20 lecture by Anne Applebaum spoken in London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), recorded on Monday, January 28, 2013.