Description
Backstory pick
Marcel Dirsus, who once worked in a brewery in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has written this surprisingly gripping (and darkly humorous) study of how tyrants cling to power... and how to make their pedestals wobble. Tom
Tyrants seem invincible, but they face constant threats from all sides. Whether it's by members of their inner circle, military elites, alienated masses, assassins, revolutionaries, or simply old age – they always fall. And when they do, they cannot retire: they face exile, prison or death.
The aftermath can be catastrophic. Meeting with improbable coup plotters, intelligence officers, rebel commanders and fugitive dissidents, Dr Marcel Dirsus draws on extraordinary interviews to unpick the vulnerabilities of the world's strongmen.