Stalin, Mao…Putin, Xi, Trump? The march of authoritarian history with Sheila Fitzpatrick and Linda Jaivin

Canberra Writers Festival presents

The shadows cast by past dictatorships loom long and large. What do the reigns of Stalin and Mao have to teach us about the threats faced by nations and peoples today? We need to remind ourselves of the past. Linda Jaivin (Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China) and Sheila Fitzpatrick (The Death of Stalin & Lost Souls: Soviet Displaced Persons and the Birth of the Cold War) examine what unrestrained power can do to a leader and the nations they rule. The lessons for our current era are inescapable. Moderated by Kyle Wilson, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies.