Book review of Strongmen

Since I read a bit, I thought about doing the occasional book review. 

I came to know about this book when a CNN reporter alluded to it in a piece that he

wrote. Checked a few reviews, saw it was mostly positive and bought it. 

Most of the time, I don’t need to buy books, because the Ernakulam Public Library is up to

date with the latest books that are published. 

Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s book is an engaging one with many eye-popping anecdotes. And since it is an easy style, you flip the pages at a fast pace, despite all the distractions of Netflix and the mobile. Ruth is a professor of history and Italian Studies at New York University and is an expert on fascism, authoritarian rulers and propaganda. 

Nowadays, I have started reading books or seeing films in tandem with Google. 

So when Ruth tosses off a sentence like: ‘So does Renato Bertelli’s sculpture of Mussolini’s profile, which resembles the tip of a penis’, I did stop reading and checked the sculpture, made in 1933, which turned out to be a remarkable one (see pic). 

Mussolini loved this sculpture because it confirmed to the world his virility. A man with a voracious sexual appetite, Ruth writes that the Italian dictator slept with a minimum of four women every day.  

From there I stumbled on to reading about Mussolini’s execution, on April 28, 1945, the horrific way his body and that of his mistress Claretta Petacci were mutilated, as it lay on the ground. Thereafter, they were hung upside down from a girder in a petrol station at Milan (see pic). 

Hitler heard about this through the radio in his bunker in Berlin, as the Allies were closing in during the second world war. This is why when he committed suicide, two days later, he asked his aides to burn his body, so that he would not suffer the indignity that Mussolini suffered. 

The strongmen featured are the usual suspects. From Idi Amin, Francisco Franco, Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi to Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire and Reccep Tayyib Erdogan of Turkey. 

The methods are similar: All critics are arrested or killed. Critical thinking in universities is stamped out. The media has to toe the line. All institutions like the judiciary and the parliament are compromised. There is a tremendous use of violence against the people and once power becomes unchecked, there is a huge amount of corruption.

But after years or decades, they inevitably fall, brought down by the people through revolution or by the elites, who stop partnering with the strongman, because of decreasing returns. 

Not all reviews were positive. The well-known political scientist Francis Fukuyama, in his review in the New York Times, was scathing: ‘Unfortunately, Ruth Ben-Ghiat provides no conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of strongmen. What we get instead is an endless series of historical anecdotes about a heterogeneous collection of bad leaders ranging from democratically elected nationalists like  Hitler. What sense does it make to put Silvio Berlusconi in the same category as Muammar Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein? Berlusconi may have been sleazy, manipulative and corrupt, but he didn’t murder political opponents or support terrorism abroad, and he stepped down after losing an election.’

Here are some quotes from the book: 

Authoritarians appeal to negative experiences and emotions. 

Charismatic leaders have found favour at moments of uncertainty and transition. Often coming from outside the political system, they create new movements, forge new alliances and communicate with their followers in new ways. 

Authoritarians hold appeal when society is polarised. 

Knowing how to capitalise on a calamity, whether you had something to do with it or not, has been an essential strongman skill. 

Hitler resembled many leaders in being an indecisive and insecure leader behind his all-powerful Fuhrer facade. 

The strongman’s divide and rule policy is to prevent anyone from gaining too much power but it produces governments full of conflict and upheaval

Propaganda lets him get the nation’s attention. 

Strongmen increase the use of censorship and repression if the leader’s hold on the people starts to disintegrate 

The qualities that have marked strongmen: a violent temperament, opportunism and a way with words. 

The fastest way to lose your life is to publicly denounce the strongman’s corruption 

Propaganda is designed to sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking, and persuade people that reality is what the leader says it is. But the repetition and aggression of fascist propaganda weakened its effects over time. 

Autocrats knew that discouraging critical thinking was key to maintaining themselves in power.

Authoritarian rule ends trust and authenticity between people. 

All strongmen are plagued by an inner emptiness, no matter how much money and power they accumulate and how many bodies they consume. 

The history of strongmen is also the history of the opponents’ efforts to remove them from power. 

You may be powerful but you are not immortal. You will die one day. 

“Time, alas, is on the side of death and oblivion.” -- Ariel Dorfman, Argentine novelist

Having it all is never enough for men who live in secret dread of losing everything. The strongman is pursued by the demon of fear.