Home › Books › Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present
by
20/99
Critics' Rating Index
87/99
Readers' Rating Index
97/99
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
84/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
Ours is the age of authoritarian rulers: self-proclaimed saviors of the nation who evade accountability while robbing their people of resources and corroding or destroying democracy. Their mutual-admiration club also draws on models from the past. Vladimir Putin rehabilitates Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin, Donald Trump praises Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi, Jair Bolsonaro admires Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan invokes Adolf Hitler as the model of an efficient leader. Ruth Ben-Ghiat covers a century of authoritarianism to explain why strongman rulers in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, drawing from a common playbook of machismo, propaganda, violence, and corruption, have found popular support even as they bring ruin to their countries. The fruit of decades of research, Strongmen gives readers insight into how such rulers think, who and what they depend on, and how they can be opposed.
Reviews
"The author is at her best when describing the history of Mussolini's rise, and the way that insouciant Italians and foreign powers facilitated it ..."
"Given that this book is at heart a horror story, no female leader will regret her own exclusion."
"Still, this is a thought-provoking look at how authoritarianism has shape-shifted from WWII to today."
"Ben-Ghiat's narrative is replete with examples of how authoritarian rulers came to power and how they maintain power; overall, the book represents a troubling portrayal of how mature modern democracies can be ultimately dominated by such strongmen ..."
"Beginning with the rise of Mussolini and concluding with the present era, Ben-Ghiat attempts to portray the ways democracies die in the arms of authoritarians, and the common traits that enable these downfalls ...at times, the chapters can feel jigsawed together — patchworks of examples undergirding premises stretched thin by all they are forced to contain ..."
"Ben-Ghiat's story...is at its heart a moral drama."
"Who are the people who maintain a deep faith in such flawed individuals to the very end?"
"particularly strong on Mussolini and Franco ..."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!