Strongmen

In 'Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present', Ruth Ben-Ghiat lays bare the blueprint followed by authoritarian leaders over the past 100 years.

The book delves into the tools and tactics these leaders use, including propaganda, corruption, violence, and the weaponization of masculinity.

Ben-Ghiat empowers readers to understand how these leaders obtain, maintain, and lose power, and how to prevent their disastrous rule in the future.

The book is divided into sections on 'Getting to Power', 'Tools of Rule', and 'Losing Power', providing a comprehensive analysis of the strongman playbook.