Russia blamed for HACKING Amazon listing of anti-Trump book: Publishers believe that Russian hackers are behind an attack on the Amazon page for a self-styled manual for resisting US president Donald Trump and other populist leaders, with the author, historian Timothy Snyder, claiming the hack as just the latest in a series of efforts by Russians to undermine his work. Images of Snyder’s On Tyranny were replaced on Amazon.co.uk with those for a non-existent colouring book by “Timothy Strauss”. The blurb for Strauss’s book said it contained “lessons to MAKE WORLD GREAT AGAIN” [sic] – a slogan used on pro-Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin posters that have appeared across the Russian Federation.
The Yale professor, who specialises in European history and the Holocaust, said: “The idea of making the world great again, the slogan left by the hacker, appears, to my knowledge, only in Russian on pro-Trump posters in the Russian Federation.” He added: “The hack basically confirms several of the lessons in On Tyranny, such as [No] 14, on the importance of digital privacy.”
Posters to reveal entire text of book about fighting tyranny
Snyder’s book is a distillation of insights he has gleaned from 20th-century history about how tyrants can be resisted and presents practical actions to take against repressive regimes. This week, his UK publisher Vintage marked the launch of the book with a poster installation in a London street featuring the entire book. It is believed to be the first time a book has been promoted in such a way.
A No 1 bestseller on Amazon, the professor said he thought the hack was inspired by publicity for the book, which has proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic – coupled with a bad week for Trump, whose attempts to quash Obamacare were defeated. (The Guardian) |
