How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

From the Samuel Johnson Prize-winning author ofChina After Mao, a sweeping and timely study of twentieth-century dictators and the development of the modern cult of personality.

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. In the twentieth century, as new technologies allowed leaders to place their image and voice directly into their citizens' homes, a new phenomenon appeared where dictators exploited the cult of personality to achieve the illusion of popular approval without ever having to resort to elections.

InHow to Be a Dictator, Frank Dik?tter examines the cults and propaganda surrounding twentieth-century dictators, from Hitler and Stalin to Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung. These men were the founders of modern dictatorships, and they learned from each other and from history to build their regimes and maintain their public images. Their dictatorships, in turn, have influenced leaders in the twenty-first century, including Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orb?n, and Xi Jinping.

Using a breadth of archival research and his characteristic in-depth analysis, Dik?tter offers a stunning portrait of dictatorship, a guide to the cult of personality, and a map for exposing the lies dictators tell to build and maintain their regimes.

From the Samuel Johnson Prize-winning author ofChina After Mao, a sweeping and timely study of twentieth century dictators and the development of the modern cult of personality.Frank Dik?tteris a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His books have changed the way historians view China, from the classicThe Discourse of Race in Modern Chinato his award-winning People's Trilogy documenting the lives of ordinary people under Mao. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

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