How to Be a Dictator
The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
$45.82
- Paperback
304 pages
- Release Date
15 November 2022
Summary
From the Samuel Johnson Prize-winning author of China After Mao, a sweeping and timely study of twentieth-century dictators and the development of the modern cult of personality.
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. In the twentieth century, as new technologies allowed leaders to place their image and voice directly into their citizens’ homes, a new pheno…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781639730681 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1639730680 |
| Author: | Frank Dikötter |
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
| Imprint: | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 15 November 2022 |
| Weight: | 340g |
| Dimensions: | 23mm x 138mm x 208mm |
Critics Review
” How to Be a Dictator takes off from a conviction, no doubt born of [Dik
“Takes off from a conviction, no doubt born of [Dikötter’s] Mao studies, that a tragic amnesia about what ideologues in power are like has taken hold of too many minds amid the current ‘crisis of liberalism.’ And so he attempts a sort of anatomy of authoritarianism, large and small, from Mao to Papa Doc Duvalier. Each dictator’s life is offered with neat, mordant compression. Dikötter’s originality is that he counts crimes against civilization alongside crimes against humanity.” –The New Yorker
“Historically detailed and compelling in its chronicling of how dictators set about organizing an entire society around their own glorification and power.” –Tablet Magazine
“Monuments crumble and statues fall, but How to Be a Dictator succeeds in identifying how and why linguistic domination has lasting power.” –Paste
“Dikötter writes with academic rigor and awareness that these megalomaniacal figures continue to inspire fascination relevant to politically volatile times.” –Kirkus Reviews
“What the eminent scholar [Dikotter] has provided is much more than a history lesson from the past - it is a warning and a cautionary tale for what could lie ahead. As such, it should be required reading for anyone who wants the future to be qualitatively better than the past … Highly recommended.” –Bowling Green Daily News
Frank Dikötter
Frank Dikötter is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His books have changed the way historians view China, from the classic The Discourse of Race in Modern China to his award-winning People’s Trilogy documenting the lives of ordinary people under Mao. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
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