Even rarer than this is a book whose significance is enhanced by unpredictable events. But this is unquestionably the case with Gideon Rachman’s latest work, The Age of the Strongman, which goes some distance in explaining the bigger picture behind all this. Rachman is chief foreign policy commentator at the Financial Times. As such, not only has he studied many of the strongmen in this book, he knows most of them as well. This is one of the main reasons why the book hasn’t lost any relevance despite being finished before the Russian invasion.

... a comprehensive survey, written with pace, clarity, and a superb, page-turning narrative fluency, of the gradual collapse of that fragile post-Cold War consensus into a new age of authoritarian dictatorship, mainly characterised by the historically familiar spectacle of ageing male leaders pumping up up a rhetoric of war, threat, national destiny and 'traditional values' to the point where actual armed conflict becomes difficult to avoid.

... could not be more geopolitically relevant.

Rachman has been writing about autocratic rule for many years and his chapters sometimes read like expanded columns. But they always prompt deeper thought about how the West should be dealing with the challenge.

... accessible.

... timely and somewhat bleak.

This cogent study provides a timely (and chilling) examination of the strongman leader and how freedom-loving societies should respond..

... these books’ personality-driven approach makes it difficult to examine the structures that elevated such leaders in the first place—including a sometimes naïve, sometimes willfully blind Western press. Do such leaders really have as much in common as these authors tend to suggest? And do their personalities tell us more than the political systems, economic structures, and distinct histories of their countries? Rachman’s book, with its clubby breakfasts and high-altitude interviews, is a particularly concentrated application of this method, and particularly revealing of its limitations.

Rachman’s analysis is troubling but not entirely pessimistic, as he is well aware of the cyclical nature of history. It is also readable, engaging, and extremely worthwhile..

An illuminating blend of dark warnings about the present and optimism that strongman rule can never prevail in the long term..

Though Rachman de-emphasizes the differences between authoritarian leaders and doesn’t fully reckon with why their criticisms of Western liberalism and globalism have struck a chord, the scope of his reporting impresses. This astute survey offers valuable perspective on a worrisome global trend..