Research Catalog

Title

Children of monsters : an inquiry into the sons and daughters of dictators / Jay Nordlinger.

Author

Nordlinger, Jay, 1963-

Publication

New York : Encounter Books, 2015.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 266 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"Some years ago, the author, Jay Nordlinger, was in Albania. He was there to give a talk under State Department auspices. Albania was about ten years beyond the collapse of Communism. For almost 40 years, the country had been ruled by one of the most brutal dictators in history: Enver Hoxha. Nordlinger wondered whether this dictator had had children. He had indeed: three of them. And they were still in Albania, with their 3 million fellow citizens. Nordlinger wondered, "What are the lives of the Hoxha kids like? What must it be like to be the son or daughter of a monstrous dictator? What must it be like to bear a name synonymous with oppression, terror, and evil?" In this book, Nordlinger surveys 20 dictators in all. They are the worst of the worst: Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and so on. The book is not about them, really, though of course they figure in it. It's about their children. Some of them are absolute loyalists. They admire, revere, or worship their father. Some of them actually succeed their father as dictator-as in North Korea, Syria, and Haiti. Some of them have doubts. A couple of them become full-blown dissenters, even defectors. A few of the daughters have the experience of having their husband killed by their father. Most of these children are rocked by exile, prison, and the like. Obviously, the children have some things in common. But they are also individuals, making of life what they can. The main thing they have in common is this: They have been dealt a very, very unusual hand. What would you do, if you were the offspring of an infamous dictator, who lords it over your country? Chances are, you'll never have to find out! But some people have-and this book investigates those lucky, or unlucky, few. "--

Subjects

• Dictators > Family relationships
• Children of criminals
• Totalitarianism > Social aspects
• Parent and child

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Hitler -- Mussolini -- Franco -- Stalin -- Tojo -- Mao -- Kim -- Hoxha -- Ceaușescu -- Duvalier -- Castro -- Qaddafi -- Assad -- Saddam -- Khomeini -- Mobutu -- Bokassa -- Amin -- Mengistu -- Pol Pot -- Afterword.

Call Number

JFE 15-6478

ISBN

• 9781594038150 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
• 1594038155 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
• 9781594038167 (ebook) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2015005297

OCLC

902657101

Author

Nordlinger, Jay, 1963- author.

Title

Children of monsters : an inquiry into the sons and daughters of dictators / Jay Nordlinger.

Publisher

New York : Encounter Books, 2015.

Edition

First American edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 15-6478