Preview
  • How to Be a Dictator

  • The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
  • By: Frank Dikötter
  • Narrated by: Jack Bennett
  • Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (166 ratings)

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How to Be a Dictator

By: Frank Dikötter
Narrated by: Jack Bennett
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Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents How to Be a Dictator by Frank Dikötter, read by Jack Bennett.

‘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 that he must create the illusion of popular support. Throughout the twentieth century, hundreds of millions of people were condemned to enthusiasm, obliged to hail their leaders even as they were herded down the road to serfdom.

In How to Be a Dictator, Frank Dikötter returns to eight of the most chillingly effective personality cults of the twentieth century. From carefully choreographed parades to the deliberate cultivation of a shroud of mystery through iron censorship, these dictators ceaselessly worked on their own image and encouraged the population at large to glorify them. At a time when democracy is in retreat, are we seeing a revival of the same techniques among some of today’s world leaders?

This timely study, told with great narrative verve, examines how a cult takes hold, grows, and sustains itself. It places the cult of personality where it belongs, at the very heart of tyranny.

©2019 Frank Dikötter (P)2019 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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What listeners say about How to Be a Dictator

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Great Analysis of the Construction of Dictatorship

Incredible and incisive dissection of the Cult of Personality, how authoritarian rule had to articulate itself differently than the authoritarian regimes of the modern era.

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Loved it!

Great overview of the major dictatorships of the 20th century that focuses on the cult of personality of each regime.

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Fabulous

I really enjoyed this one. Moas famine was also amazing but it's absolutely massive. This one was a great quickie

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Enlightening

For someone who knows very little about history and dictators this was very eye opening and enjoyable. It was easy to listen to and gave a great glimpse into this mindset. I recommend it for a quick overview of socialism.

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Worth a listen

Excellent. I only wish it provided some normative description of whether such personality cults made the regimes more or less robust. More insight into the Why's and to what ends would have been welcome.

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2 people found this helpful