Description
Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of the Don't Know Much About(R) books comes a dramatic account of the origins of democracy, the history of authoritarianism, and the reigns of five of history's deadliest dictators.
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year! A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year! A YALSA 2021 Nonfiction Award Nominee!
What makes a country fall to a dictator? How do authoritarian leaders-strongmen-capable of killing millions acquire their power? How are they able to defeat the ideal of democracy? And what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again?
By profiling five of the most notoriously ruthless dictators in history-Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein-Kenneth C. Davis seeks to answer these questions, examining the forces in these strongmen's personal lives and historical periods that shaped the leaders they'd become.
Meticulously researched and
