Best book to understand historical autocrats

[Anonymous]

Ok, my memory for details of history is a bit shot. But I would like to brush up so I can put current events into perspective. Extra points for a reasonable length book. I under the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is excellent but it’s pretty hefty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, my memory for details of history is a bit shot. But I would like to brush up so I can put current events into perspective. Extra points for a reasonable length book. I under the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is excellent but it’s pretty hefty.

One of my all time favorites! Very hard to put down.

Don't let length deter you. Some fantastic books are long and you're sorry when they're ending - Lonesome Dove, Anna Karenina, the Winds of War, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, my memory for details of history is a bit shot. But I would like to brush up so I can put current events into perspective. Extra points for a reasonable length book. I under the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is excellent but it’s pretty hefty.

I don't know if there's one single, credible and un-biased book that does this, particularly with enough depth to be sufficient. As someone who never really studied or learned history well, I really enjoyed these:

"The Plots Against the President: FDR, a nation in crisis, and the rise of the American Right" by Sally Denton - very interesting book, good coverage of the political parties' policies etc., with obvious focus on FDR's time.

"Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America" by Heather Cox Richardson - very interesting and good summary as above, without the detailed focus on FDR.

"The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Demise of the Weimar Republic" by Benjamin Carter Hett. Excellent book - the parallels to the US today will be quite striking. It's one of my son's texts for a college history class. It was laying on the coffee table and I started reading a section and ended up going back to the beginning and reading essentially the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Richard Evans Third Reich trilogy.

[Anonymous]

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

[Anonymous]

I'm rereading 1984, if that's useful. Last read it in high school ages ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

This, 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, my memory for details of history is a bit shot. But I would like to brush up so I can put current events into perspective. Extra points for a reasonable length book. I under the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is excellent but it’s pretty hefty.

I don't know if there's one single, credible and un-biased book that does this, particularly with enough depth to be sufficient. As someone who never really studied or learned history well, I really enjoyed these:

"The Plots Against the President: FDR, a nation in crisis, and the rise of the American Right" by Sally Denton - very interesting book, good coverage of the political parties' policies etc., with obvious focus on FDR's time.

"Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America" by Heather Cox Richardson - very interesting and good summary as above, without the detailed focus on FDR.

"The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Demise of the Weimar Republic" by Benjamin Carter Hett. Excellent book - the parallels to the US today will be quite striking. It's one of my son's texts for a college history class. It was laying on the coffee table and I started reading a section and ended up going back to the beginning and reading essentially the whole thing.

+1 on The Death of Democracy. Read it when it was new, in early Trump I. Was just thinking of rereading it.

I also recommend the Richard Evans trilogy that another poster listed, but it’s a heavier lift.