Authoritarianism: Power, Propaganda, and the Struggle for Democracy (A Book Review of Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present)

“I do not know if we can build a better society. I do not even know if we will survive as a species. But I do know that these corporate forces have us by the throat. And they have my children by the throat. I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists.”

— Chris Hedges

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University and scholar on fascism, examines how authoritarians have used propaganda, violence, corruption, personality cults, and the erosion of democratic norms to consolidate their power in her book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. Some of the figures she explores include Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Augusto Pinochet, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump.