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Dictators : the cult of personality in the twentieth century

Dikötter, Frank2020
Book
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. Frank Dikötter returns to eight of the most chillingly effective personality cults of the twentieth century.
Author:
Imprint:
London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
Collation:
xvi, 274 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: as How to be a dictator. 2019.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781526626998 (pbk)
Dewey class:
321.90904321.909
Language:
English
BRN:
2966278
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