Book In Review
This session takes the panel through chapters 5 through 10 of Surviving Autocracy, closing out part one of Masha Gessen’s argument. Two chapters drive the conversation: “Corruption” (chapter five) and the chapter on dignity (chapter eight). Nick reads directly from both, and the discussion keeps circling back to a single Gessen move — that the familiar vocabulary of democratic decline no longer fits what is actually happening. Tara opens the hour already living inside that thesis, describing a baseline of anxiety and rage, and frames focused anger as the engine of action rather than despair.
Gessen contends that “corruption” understates the Trump administration, because the word implies concealment — an official who knows they shouldn’t profit and hides it. The panel takes the book seriously and then pushes past it. Nick rejects Gessen’s framing that the opposite of corruption is transparency, arguing instead that corruption and transparency are not opposites at all: a regime can be hyper-corrupt in plain sight, and the openness is precisely what disarms people. That is the episode’s sharpest contribution — Nick extends the book rather than simply agreeing with it, insisting that doing the theft in the open is a deliberate test of what the public will tolerate.
Tara grounds the abstraction in history. She walks through George Washington declining a crown, the unpaid Continental Army, and the Newburgh conspiracy to argue that the founding wager was self-governance held to a higher standard — then contrasts that with a Coast Guard Academy commencement where, she says, the message to new officers was to get away with what they can. The dignity chapter becomes the connective tissue: Gessen’s split between the dignity of participation and the dignity of performance lets the panel name what a degraded politics looks like, from an antisemitic YouTube comment they block in real time to the “robber barons” label Nick prefers over Gessen’s “oligarchs” — because, he argues, the American disease deserves American words.
Where part one lands, by the panel’s read, is that naming is itself a fight. Robber barons over oligarchs, transparent corruption over hidden corruption, weaponized ignorance over mere stupidity — each relabeling is an attempt to make the machinery legible again so it can be resisted. The hosts tie that to concrete action: get money out of politics, track and support down-ballot candidates like the ones Tara is courting in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and keep reading. The episode ends on the series arc — part one is done, and next week the club opens part two of Surviving Autocracy.
Books Mentioned
Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen — Penguin Random House
Where to find resources
How to Access the material
We encourage you to read along with us, with get a copy of your own — we recommend these resources:
Go to your local library and checkout a copy, if available
Start & Support Your Own Book Club
Actions You Can Take
Sign the Petitions:
Call your public servants on important issues:
Join the efforts to unmask law enforcement and de-flock the States:
Service members can get un-biased information on legal vs illegal orders:
Reach out on Signal: @TheOrdersProject.76
Banner & Backbone Authors’ Notes
The America we strive for — it is one where we willingly remember the teachings of our past, humbly learn from our failings, proudly celebrate our successes, and boldly lead the way into a future for all people.
Support and subscribe to Banner & Backbone now for only $5 a month or $50 annually!
Anti Fascist Book Club Team
~ Nick Paro | Kristofer Goldsmith | Stephanie Wilson | Tara Devlin ~
Thank you Honey Badger, Laura Nicole, Judith, and many others for tuning into my live video with Tara Devlin and Nick Paro! Join me for my next live video in the app.
