The Terrible Books of Terrible Men

My Conversation with Daniel Kalder on What He Learned While Reading Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Gaddafi, and Other Prolific Despots

As someone who values human freedom as my prime political concern, I’ve spent considerable time reading about its opposite. Despotic fanaticism has always fascinated me. What, after all, drives people to extremes, both leaders and followers? This perverse preoccupation was especially intense during my twenties—though you can only take so much before nee…