Book Notes | ‘Strongmen from Mussolini to the Present’
Author Ruth Ben-Ghiat has written a well-researched and carefully documented history of autocratic leaders in the 20th and 21st centuries. Starting with Benito Mussolini, who wrote the strongman playbook, Ben-Ghiat discusses Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franco, Muammar Gaddafi, Augusto Pinochet, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi, Recap Erdogan, and Donald Trump, among others.
She describes characteristics that help strongmen gain power including opportunism, a way with words, an ability to tell lies, temper outbursts, and a willingness to use violence whenever necessary. Their assent to power was often through military coups or elections with voter suppression and fraud. Once in power, they maintain that power with relentless propaganda, corruption, violence, and a promise to their populations of a greater nation. They usually feel a need to demonstrate virility and dominate and abuse women.
Ben-Ghiat carefully describes what a disaster these strongmen are for the populations under their control. They routinely lie, suppress freedom, imprison opponents, murder, and torture to maintain control. Strongmen have a tendency to make decisions based on intuition, refuse to change their views based on new information, are unwilling to listen to others, and lack respect for the rule of law.
Overwhelming, depressing, but very important
They attempt to neutralize anyone who might expose their wrongdoing. Strongmen also use their power to enrich themselves by a variety of techniques including extortion, kickbacks, plundering of state resources, and “nationalizing” and then stealing the property of enemies. Using such techniques, Vladimir Putin, for example, has amassed an estimated net worth of $26 billion.
Finally, Ben-Ghiat tells us how the rule of strongmen ends. Often the end is unpleasant. After Mussolini was executed, Italians urinated on his corpse. Gaddafi was hunted down by his countrymen and beaten to death. Recognizing that something like this could be their end, strongmen do everything within their power to maintain control.
Also of interest, Mussolini was the first autocrat to say he was going to “drain the swamp,” and Berlusconi, when under criminal investigation, was the first to claim he was the victim of a “witch hunt.”
The UMRA book group members often used words like “overwhelming” and “depressing” to describe the book. However, all seemed to agree that the topic covered was very important as the battle between democracy and autocracy continues around the world.
—John Bantle, UMRA Book Club member
Book Club I to meet November 17
Fri, Nov 17 2023, 2pm
.John Bantle will lead the discussion of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarian demagogues, when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, November 17. From Mussolini to Putin, this book details what authoritarian leaders have in common and how they can be stopped.
Email Pat Tollefson for more information. To read summaries of the book club’s discussions, go to umra.umn.edu and search for “Book Notes.”
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.