The Dictators
64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History
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The Dictators
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Narrated by:
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Iain Dale
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By:
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Iain Dale
About this listen
Were the signs that Putin is a ruthless dictator there all along? How should we deal with President Xi of China? Given the world seems to be moving more and more towards authoritarian rule, this is the right moment to seek warnings, and lessons, from history.
In The Dictators, Iain Dale brings together 64 essays by historians, academics, journalists and politicians about elected and unelected dictators, wartime and peacetime dictators, those driven by ideology and those with a reputation for sheer brutality. How did these tyrants, autocrats and despots seize power - and how did they exercise it? And how did they lose it? Very few dictators die peacefully in their own beds, after all.
Only by examining these figures from the 6th century BC to the present, from ancient Greece to present day Saudi Arabia, do patterns start to emerge. We can see the shared character traits, the common conditions, the patterns of behaviour that have enabled dictators to seize power - time and time again.
The Dictators is acutely relevant to world politics today: it is indeed a warning from history. Will we take heed? Or will history, in fact, teach us that history teaches us nothing?
Listeners also enjoyed...
The idea of having relative experts write on their specialism meant most essays felt informative and often personal.
Unfortunately, Dale's performance was merely ok. Often giving the impression Dale was reading names or terms for the first time whilst recording.
I was also disappointed by the extent that a number accounts lent right politically. Many chapters gave, what felt like, a factual and mostly unbiased reflection on each leader. However the clear selection bias of Spectator writers and conservative politicians could certainly be felt across the narrative of the book. I was especially disappointed in the apogogism for Franco and Pinochet. Though their premierships were indeed criticised, the author of each seems to feel the need to defend the two despots personally which was not common.
A selection of very informative and well written essays with a spattering of more bias ones that leave a bitter taste
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