Review by Choice Review
This impressive book documents the structure and methods of authoritarian rule in dictatorial regimes from the mid-20th century to the current day. Ben-Ghiat, also author of the acclaimed Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema (CH, Sep'15, 53-0136), has the historian's eye for detail and the writer's knack for prose. One could only wish that she would better identify the conditions antecedent to the rise of strongman rule. People with that knowledge could be better prepared. But perhaps, as Ben-Ghiat seems to say, the fact that strongmen (and they are always men) arise in such a wide variety of circumstances, found in both developed democracies and newly independent, less developed states, suggests that authoritarianism isn't just the product of a specialized set of conditions but rather one aspect of the human condition. This book is well researched and marvelously written. It should be accessible to general readers as well as scholars and is an appropriate read for any student of modern history or political science. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Daniel P. Franklin, emeritus, Georgia State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Historian Ben-Ghiat (Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema) examines in this incisive and richly detailed account the origin myths, power-grabbing tactics, and personality traits shared by the 20th century's fascist dictators and today's right-wing authoritarians. She analyzes how Italian rulers Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, Libyan revolutionary Muammar Gaddafi, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, among many other "strongmen," seized and held on to power through political uprisings, military coups, and "antidemocratic tactics like fraud and voter suppression." Ben-Ghiat compares Adolf Hitler's seizure of the Sudetenland in 1938 to Putin's annexation of the Ukraine in 2014; dissects how Mussolini, Gaddafi, and Mobutu Sese Seko, the ruler of Zaire, bolstered their power by vaunting their sexual virility; and details how "new authoritarians" including Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro use social media "to create the news they need to stay in office." Throughout, Ben-Ghiat notes the similarities between President Trump and antidemocratic rulers of the past and present: "A nation that never endured dictatorship or foreign occupation now has firsthand experience of the authoritarian playbook." It's a persuasive case, though the decision to leave leftist strongmen largely out of her study leaves Ben-Ghiat open to charges of political bias. Still, this is a thought-provoking look at how authoritarianism has shape-shifted from WWII to today. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Augusto Pinochet, Muammar Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump are representative of strongmen, according to Ben-Ghiat (history, Italian Studies, New York Univ.; Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema), as the author traces the evolution of the charismatic leader who specializes in using power for its sake as a way to obtain political control of a country. The narrative story begins with Mussolini and his rise to power post-World War I. In succeeding chapters, Ben-Ghiat explores the tactics and antics of other leaders, such as Hitler and Pinochet, as they use the existing political structure to garner power in their own right. Through extensive research in primary and secondary sources, Ben-Ghiat creates a sobering picture of how strong-willed men have been able to establish themselves as popular rulers, while undermining the very democratic structure within which they thrived. 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. VERDICT A sober book, and one that we should all take seriously. Essential for all collections.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
What does Donald Trump have in common with dictators like Hitler and Mussolini? A professor of history and Italian studies at NYU tallies the similarities. This incisive study casts a wider geographic net than two recent books that have placed Trump on a continuum of authoritarian leaders: Géraldine Schwarz's Those Who Forget, which set him in the context of rising far-right movements in Europe, and Eric Posner's The Demagogue's Playbook, which compared him to American tyrants. Ben-Ghiat shows how "strongmen" have undermined or destroyed democracy in three successive eras: the fascist takeovers (1919-1945) that gave rise to Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco; the military coups (1950-1990) that installed Gaddafi, Pinochet, and Sese Seko; and the elections (1990-present) that elevated Berlusconi, Erdogan, Putin, and Trump. Agreeing with the anthropologist Ernest Becker that it's fear that makes people follow demagogues, Ben-Ghiat shows how modern strongmen have swayed the masses by exploiting three factors often cited by other scholars: violence, propaganda, and corruption. She also argues, more originally but less persuasively, that they flaunt a fourth trait, "virility," manifested in acts such as Trump's boasting of his sexual exploits to Access Hollywood and Putin's posing shirtless for photos. This argument is her weakest partly because many nondespotic leaders have displayed a similar male bravado; shirtless photos of JFK and Reagan abound, and no U.S. president may have been more macho than big-game hunter Teddy Roosevelt. The author is on firmer ground when she shows how male leaders use "divide-and-rule" and other tactics to consolidate power, as Trump did in making states compete for medical equipment during the pandemic. Ben-Ghiat allows that women like Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi "may have had certain strongman traits," but she excludes them from scrutiny because "none of them sought to destroy democracy." Given that this book is at heart a horror story, no female leader will regret her own exclusion. An intelligent if less than blazingly original study of modern authoritarian leaders. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
