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Ruth Ben-Ghiat
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Strongmen: How They Rise, Why They Succeed, How They Fall Kindle Edition

by Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 188 ratings
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'A gripping and illuminating picture of how strongmen have deployed violence, seduction, and corruption' Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of How Democracies Die

'A timely analysis of how a certain kind of charisma delivers political disaster' Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny


Ours is the age of the strongman. Countries from Russia to India, Turkey to America are ruled by men who combine populist appeal with authoritarian policy. They have reshaped their countries around them, creating cults of personality which earn the loyalty of millions. And they do so by drawing on a playbook of behaviour established by figures such as Benito Mussolini, Muammar Gaddafi and Adolf Hitler. So why - despite the evidence of history - do strongmen still hold such appeal for us?

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat draws on analysis of everything from gender to corruption and propaganda to explain who these political figures are - and how they manipulate our own history, fears and desires in search of power at any cost. Strongmen is a fierce and perceptive history, and a vital step in understanding how to combat the forces which seek to derail democracy and seize our rights.

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  1. Print length
    354 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Profile Books
  5. Publication date
    November 5, 2020
  6. File size
    7393 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GZ17KBT
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Profile Books; Main edition (November 5, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 5, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7393 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1788161246
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 188 ratings

About the author

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Ruth Ben-Ghiat

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian and commentator on fascism, authoritarian leaders, propaganda, and democracy protection in America and around the world. The recipient of Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other fellowships, she is author or editor of seven books. She is an MSNBC columnist and also writes for CNN, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the New Yorker and other outlets. She's Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, Advisor to Protect Democracy, and publisher of the Substack newsletter Lucid on threats to democracy. She is also a consultant for TV and film: Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning Pinocchio was her most recent project. Follow her on IG, Threads and Twitter @ruthbenghiat

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
188 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Aramis Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars History rhymes, not repeats.
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
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Terrific book! By comparing and contrasting how certain personality types can game the system, one can see that there are some common strategies and tactics shared by all.

There appear to be some systematic weaknesses in our species that have not changed over the millennia that can be exploited by small organized groups backing a charismatic individual.

This book details those within our life span and the exerience of our parents, and in a way that a student of history would recognize as an old pattern that has always been a part of the human fabric.

This is a very valuable contribution to “the great conversation”.
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Renee Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars Same as "Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present"
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2024
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This is just the differently titled British edition of Ben-Ghiat's excellent "Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present"! They are the same book. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a follow-up book to the author's important text.
One person found this helpful
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EMM
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written, well referrececed.
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
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The author does an excellent job at detailing the contours of authoritarianism and surprisingly consistent they are at using the same or near same playbook.
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Nancy Cleveland
5.0 out of 5 stars Great historic read
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2024
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Great historic read
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Pillows
5.0 out of 5 stars A Bridge To Understanding
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2023
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This book is a masterpiece. Just what I’ve been thinking about and so timely. One of the “strongmen” is trump. Every person in the world, whose aim is peace, NEEDS to read this book.
5 people found this helpful
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Top Dawg
3.0 out of 5 stars She is better on air than in a book
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2022
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I have watched Ruth Ben-Ghiat on TV commenting on strongmen and politics and autocracies and always enjoyed her insightful remarks. So I bought her book. It was a disappointment. It's not a bad book, but it seemed to be a notch below her TV commentary skills. There are good insights in it and it is worth buying if you want better insight into historical strongmen, but a thrilling read it is not.
10 people found this helpful
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Bill Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Strongmen...the world is back to this.
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2023
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Understandable...organized...should be required reading for all as a primer for what is happening with top-down political leadership in much of the world.
3 people found this helpful
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The Orange Parrot
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2023
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Reading this as history makes clear the threat that trump & the GOP are today & tomorrow. Should be required reading for HS seniors at a minimum. And part of undergrad history.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Elizabeth McQuaid
5.0 out of 5 stars A book for our time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2023
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I was a teenager growing up in Ireland the 1970s and most of what I knew about WW2 was learnt, not in history classes in school, but through watching The World at War series on TV. Although I have read widely since that time, this book has revealed several gaps in my knowledge which I really need to plug. Given the psychic trauma and political upheaval taking place in the USA and throughout Europe, a book of this nature should form the backbone of our schools' history curricula.

I can understand why Ruth Ben-Ghiat did not include an analysis of Xi Jinping's China. Having lived there for over six years, I can vouch for that being a whole can of worms which deserves a volume of its own. However, if she ever chooses to explore that hotbed of authoritarian oppression, then I will certainly purchase and read it.
One person found this helpful
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Tim de Hoog
2.0 out of 5 stars A failed analysis
Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 28, 2021
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I did not find this book interesting. The writer makes some weird decisions. At the start of the book, she gives you a list of dictators and strongmen that will play a part in her book. Well, of all the people on that list only a handfull are used in her analogy. So Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, Gaddafi, Berlusconi and Trump take the lionshare of the book. Other dictators like Barré or Idi Amin are only mentioned a few times.

The part of virility is just weird and seems unnecessary. Her idea is that by having sex with a lot of women the strongmen shows his dominance. But she undermines her thesis in the same paragraph by bringing up Hitler who was not sexually active.

The book also has a big bias against right wing strongmen. Strongmen like Hugo Chavez or Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela are ignored or talked over. This gave me the illusion that this is more like a political pamphlet instead of a historical analysis.

Mrs. Ben-Ghiat also makes some historical mistakes. For example, she writes that Hitlers lawyer Hans Frank commited suicide at the end of the war because he could not live in a world without the Fuhrer. This is incorrect because Hans Frank was judged at Nuremberg and hanged for his crimes in Poland. That is really sloppy research for an historian.
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Zoe E. Routh
5.0 out of 5 stars harrowing - must read if you care about democratic freedoms
Reviewed in Australia on January 12, 2024
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This book is well-researched and wonderfully written. An in depth analysis of how strongmen rise, and sometimes fall, was disturbing to read. Strongmen rise because we want to believe in a hero, we appreciate charisma and virility, we are attracted to those who break the rules with energetic confidence. We get sucked in by lies if they reinforce our worldview, we put up with abuses if we can see an advantage for ourselves. And then we find ourselves with a leader who will use violence, suppression, degradation, and erosion of civil liberties to keep power.

Yes we are talking about Hitler, Mussolini and other historical despots. We are also talking about Putin and Trump.

We need to inoculate ourselves against strongmen tactics - this book is a step towards that.

Highly recommended.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2023
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She knows her stuff
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mattsan2402
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Australia on July 22, 2022
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This is a very interesting and well written book on how strongmen rise, consolidate power and ultimately fail. It focuses on those men who misuse their power often leading to destructive ends, sometimes with catastrophic results. There are may others including a few women who fit the criteria who could have been included but the basic ideas can easily be applied to them as well. What would be interesting would be a follow up book on those men who manipulated their way to the top but are generally perceived in history as being “good guys” Recommended
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