How to Be a Dictator

An Irreverent Guide

By: Mikal Hem, Kerri Pierce - translator

Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A tongue-in-cheek guide to becoming a dictator, based on the outrageous, scandalous, and excessive behavior of dictators past and present.

Who hasn't dreamed of one day ruling your own country? Along with great power comes unlimited influence, control, admiration, and often wealth. How to Be a Dictator will teach you the tricks of the trade - how to rise to the top and stay in power, and how to enjoy the fruits of your excellence.

Featuring examples from the most successful leaders and regimes in the business, including Kim Jong Il, Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Nicolae Ceauşescu, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, and many others, this handy guide offers 10 easy lessons on becoming and acting like a dictator: from how to rig an election and create your own personality cult to the do's and don'ts of dictator fashion and palace architecture, how to become wealthy and spend your fortune the right way, expressing your literary genius, and how to avoid being toppled, exiled, and/or meeting any other dismal end.

Combining black humor with political insights, How to Be a Dictator is peppered with horrifying and hilarious stories from some of the most eccentric modern world leaders.

©2017 Mikal Hem (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Informing and entertaining

I like the sarcastic approach of the book. It is filled with interesting trivia and the lifestyles of the rich and tyrannical. Fun adventure in poetical science.

Not really informative, mediocre entertainment

Title sums it up. You won’t walk away from this with any deep knowledge, maybe a fun fact or two. The narrative itself is just not that fun either. It jumps around a lot within a single chapter and you get a really shallow view of a bunch of dictators instead of more illustrative case studies of fewer dictators. This is the one time where the Netflix story is better than the book.

That being said, the audio is fine. Reader does a good job at giving the tone of the book and in a nice cadence.

People are weird

A bizarre parade of stories that display the amusing behavior of those with too much excess.

interesting with a few chuckles

Liked it althought I'm not sure I'd count it as a comedy but rather a documentary with some satirical dialogue. Some chuckles mixed in with the interesting facts. Worth a listen.

Describes Donald J. Trump to a T

Describes Donald J. Trump to a T. Must read for anyone trying to understand trump

Better title - How to identify a dictator

Please do not become a dictator.

This is an excellent guide to identify a dictator, and it serves as a reminder how delicate democracy and freedom can be for all. I thought the examples were fantastic and I learned a lot about global politics, and world history through the processes.

if I ever decide to be a dictator

if I ever take the notion to become a dictator I will definitely need this book... being is average as I am this book was very informative and believe it or not extremely funny extremely funny the author has a great sense of humor and I love this book it was wonderful

Entertaining, Easy Listen, Interesting History

Title says it all. It's a light 'read', but it has a great number of interesting historical details. I quite like it. After I started listening to it, my partner began listening to it independently and surprised me when he put it on. That was neat. He enjoyed it as well, and I got to hear it a second time.

Tongue in cheek

A tongue in cheek and somewhat satirical review of 20th century despots. There are some factual errors and How-to Be doesn't seem to have a point beyond offering dictator trivia. Perhaps surprisingly, there's very little discussion of Soviet leaders and not much more about Chinese leaders. Instead, there's a focus on dictators of "banana republics," particularly Haiti, Kazakhstan, and North Korea. Organization seems thematic but in practice feels haphazard. The reader is good.

How to Be is a fairly short, entertaining romp, and people with an interest in the eclectic might enjoy it. While I've given the book four stars, I generally wouldn't recommend the book. it was free as part of my Audible membership but I wouldn't pay for How to Be a Dictator.

So much to know!

Having misread the title, I’d been hoping for a guide to BECOMING a dictator. Sadly, I’ll have to look elsewhere for that, but once I am an autocrat, this little book will be a fantastic guide about how to act as one. True, there are some great hints about how to seize power, but that’s just a bonus. Mostly, it’s a review of how to act like a dictator, from fashion, spending, housing, marriage (or not), propaganda, repression, lawlessness, and so much more! Truly, this is a treasure chest of ideas about looking and acting like the most important and powerful person in your respective sovereign state.