Profiles the individuals who took history into their hands to gain control of a people, an empire or a state, from the pharoahs of ancient Egypt to Saddam Husse

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year An Atlantic Best Book of the Year A Financial Times Best Politics Book of the Year Ho

"I have committed many acts of cruelty and had an incalculable number of men killed, never knowing whether what I did was right. But I am indifferent to what pe

Despite billions of dollars of aid and the best efforts of the international community to improve economies and bolster democracy across Africa, violent dictato

The Desktop Digest of Dictators and Despots is a compendium and quick reference guide to history’s most notorious absolutist rulers and authoritarian regimes.