The title of this book is what caught my attention. A friend of mine had recommended that I read some of the books that Dikötter wrote. As I was looking through the list of his titles this one stood out the most and I began reading.

Dikötter begins with an introduction where he provides his thesis, which includes the following: “naked power has an expiry date. Power seized through violence must be maintained by violence, although violence can be a blunt instrument. A dictator must rely on military forces, a secret police, a praetorian guard, spies, informants, interrogators, torturers. But it is best to pretend that coercion is actually consent. A dictator must instil fear in his people, but if he can compel them to acclaim him he will probably survive longer. The paradox of the modern dictator, in short, is that he must create the illusion of popular support.”

In describing the cult of personality Dikötter stated “Most of all, by compelling them to acclaim him before the others, a dictator turned everyone into a liar.” He continued: “The purpose of the cult was not to convince or persuade, but to sow confusion, to destroy common sense, to enforce obedience, to isolate individuals and crush their dignity. People had to self-censor, and in turn they monitored others, denouncing those who failed to appear sufficiently sincere in their professions of devotion to the leader.”

Dikötter further notes: “Dictators who survived often relied on two instruments of power: the cult and terror. Yet all too often the cult has been treated as a mere aberration, a repellent but marginal phenomenon. This book places the cult of personality where it belongs, at the very heart of tyranny.”

After outlining the cult of personality Dikötter goes into case studies of how various dictators implemented the cult. There are chapters on Stalin, Mao, and Hitler, but there are also chapters on figures I was less familiar with including Duvalier and Mengistu.

Dikötter writes: “Duvalier was a dictator’s dictator, a man who wielded naked power without the pretence of ideology, despite all the talk about revolution. He ruled alone, from his mahogany desk, an automatic pistol within reach, a few palace guards behind the nearest door. There was no junta, no faction, no clique, no true party except in name, only underlings vying for his attention, hoping to supplant each other by demonstrations of absolute loyalty. Duvalier, suspicious of everyone, was single-minded in exploiting their foibles, manipulating their emotions, testing their loyalty. It helped that he occasionally miscalculated, crushing friends and foes alike.“

I enjoyed reading this book and the focus that it put on the cult of personality. Overall I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.