About the Book: Dictators: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
A New Statesman, Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year
'Brilliant NEW STATESMAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR
'Enlightening and a good read SPECTATOR
'Moving and perceptive NEW STATESMAN
Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Ceausescu, Mengistu of
Ethiopia and Duvalier of Haiti.
No dictator can rule through fear and violence alone. Naked power can be
grabbed and held temporarily, but it never suffices in the long term. A tyrant
who can compel his own people to acclaim him will last longer. The paradox of
the modern dictator is