Personality and Power – Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe

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Temporarily out of stock

ISBN: 9780141998237
Title: Personality and Power – Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe
Author: KERSHAW IAN

The acclaimed historian explores how far individual leaders can alter the course of history

The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished.

Ian Kershaw’s new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles, from Churchill to de Gaulle, Adenauer to Gorbachev, and Thatcher to Kohl, Kershaw uses his exceptional skills to think through how other, strikingly different figures wielded power.

Format: Trade Paper
Publication date: 08/12/2023
Pages: 512
Temporarily out of stock