M. Gessen graced the stage of Campbell Hall on April 14, speaking to an audience of mainly gray-haired, lifelong learners that nearly filled the auditorium. As a part of UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures series, Gessen discussed not just how autocrats rise to power, but how they stay there, and how to resist.
Gessen is a Russian-American journalist who is a New York Times columnist, distinguished professor, and author of 11 books. Gessen, who uses they/them pronouns, has a clear-eyed style of dissecting convoluted systems of power — often authoritarian or totalitarian in nature — allowing readers and listeners to
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