Strongmen cover art

Strongmen

Mussolini to the Present

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Strongmen

Written by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $22.67

Buy Now for $22.67

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future. 

For ours is the age of authoritarian rulers: self-proclaimed saviors of the nation who evade accountability while robbing their people of truth, treasure, and the protections of democracy. They promise law and order, then legitimize lawbreaking by financial, sexual, and other predators. They use propaganda, corruption, and violence to stay in power. 

Vladimir Putin and Mobutu Sese Seko's kleptocracies, Benito Mussolini and Muammar Gaddafi's systems of sexual exploitation, and Silvio Berlusconi and Donald Trump's relentless misinformation: all show how authoritarian rule, far from ensuring stability, is marked by destructive chaos. 

Recounting the acts of solidarity and dignity that have undone strongmen over the past 100 years, Ben-Ghiat makes vividly clear that only by seeing the strongman for what he is - and by valuing one another as he is unable to do - can we stop him, now and in the future.

©2020 Ruth Ben-Ghiat (P)2020 Kalorama Ideologies & Doctrines Modern Political Science Politics & Government World Russia Socialism Soviet Union Military Liberalism Self-Determination Imperialism Interwar Period War American History Latin America Capitalism Iran
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most Relevant
I found the narrator kind of flat and was disappointed that RBG didn't narrate herself, but the story held me. So much amazing history with nuggets of different peoples' personal experiences. Important reading as warnings against strongmen, and includes how to counteract them, what their downfalls are, because they always crash and burn. It just depends how much damage they do to the people they rule before that happens.

Wow. So much we need to know, like, yesterday!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would love to hear Ben-Giat’s reflections on the current situation in America. What will happen now? Will Trump face any consequences and will all his lackeys carry on, business as usual?
I hope not.

Timely...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Strongmen is an excellent book. It is thought-provoking, interesting, and timely. I highly recommend it.

My attention was captured by this fascinating book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I wish that every American could read this book so they could understand the terrifying direction that their country is heading in by embracing Trump for a second term.

Everyone should read this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The material covered in this title is interesting, although it does get somewhat repetitive at times. Some of it is familiar knowledge, but the material on Mussolini, Italy and Berlusconi was new to me, as were the background of Gaddafi and Franco. It is helpful to view certain leaders through this lens up to a point, but there are major differences that break down some of her unifying theories about all of them. Inclusion of North Korea's leaders and other communist despots would also help. I think a great companion piece to this reading (and somewhat superior in my view) is Corruptible by Brian Klauss. The reader of this audiobook is very robotic sounding and sometimes she adds some incongrous vocal expression that juxtaposes poorly with the material being read which is often grim or sad. This is a sad and heavy read so be prepared. I was hoping for more solutions to thwarting Strongmen leaders and descriptions of what enabled the country's people to defeat these bad leaders.

Reader sounds a bit Roboty

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews