Diogenes-Light: Monster Kids Can Be Frightening

Dear Friend,

It doesn't have to be Halloween to consider Monsters. In fact, the time to think about them – and their brats – is right now, thanks to National Review Senior Editor Jay Nordlinger and his new book, Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators.

Which you can, and absolutely must, pre-order on Amazon (the actual publication date is September 22nd).

You have to admit, it's a fascinating question: What's it like to be the son or daughter of a dictator? The offspring of a . . . Stalin? Or Mao? Or a tin-horn dictator from a back-assward African hellhole?

Jay's answers to these and other questions are engaging, witty, insightful, and make for a hell of a good read (heck, I should know, because I read it, and loved it!). And so have others, including these outstanding historians. Their praise for Children of Monsters, and for Jay as a writer, is well worth noting. For example:

MARK HELPRIN: "A magnetic page-turner that nonetheless is complex and deep. The fascinating and horrific details Nordlinger unearths flow together to pose important and disturbing questions about love, loyalty, history, and human nature."

ANDREW ROBERTS: "This extraordinary book makes us all ask of ourselves: What would we do if we realized that our beloved father was also a blood-stained tyrant? . . . Jay Nordlinger's exceptional investigation into the children of 20 modern dictators grips and convinces."

PAUL JOHNSON: "Jay Nordlinger is one of America's most versatile and pungent writers."

The late ROBERT CONQUEST: "Few writers are well qualified to write about the world's cultures, and none more so than Jay Nordlinger."

BERNARD LEWIS: "Nordlinger offers a unique combination of depth and accuracy of knowledge with clarity and elegance of style. It is a pleasure to read sophistication without affectation."

Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators surveys 20 despots in all – from the worst of the worst (Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein) to Franco, and many in between – and provides an often-amazing (and more than often shocking) account of the lives of their children.

Some of them (the offspring!) are absolute loyalists, who admire, revere, or worship Dear Old Dada. Some actually succeed Pop as Tyrant-in-Chief – as in North Korea, Syria, and Haiti. Some of them have doubts, and a small handful become full-blown dissenters, even defectors. And widows: A few daughters have the experience of having their husband killed by their dictator-father. Most of these children are rocked by war, prison, exile, or other upheaval.

This is a riveting and informative and, yep, entertaining (Jay's style is so uniquely captivating) book. Obviously, the dictatorial progeny have things in common. But as Nordlinger makes clear from page 1 till the last in this handsome hardcover, 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.

On nearly every page of Children of Monsters you'll find an opera, a drama, a tragedy, or, sometimes, even a comedy. You simply must meet these characters for yourself. And when you do, through the skill of Jay Nordlinger's captivating prose, expect to marvel, shudder, and ponder.

Make sure you order your copy, pre-publication, of Jay Nordlinger's acclaimed new book, Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators.

Best,

Jack Fowler
Publisher
National Review

Diogenes-Light

Monster Kids Can Be Frightening

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