---
product_id: 38799652
title: "The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age"
price: "KSh10671"
currency: KES
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/38799652-the-myth-of-the-strong-leader-political-leadership-in-modern
store_origin: KE
region: Kenya
---

# The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

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## Description

The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age [Brown, Archie] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

Review: Fascinating review of 20th century history - The book starts with a simple statement which to me was only obvious after I had read it: concentrating power in a “strong leader” means allocating it arbitrarily to the leader’s personal assistants. Because no single human can cope with the increased volume of information and decisions - despite the myths these “strong leaders” like to perpetuate about themselves - the decisions get made by the close staff of these leaders. This leaves out the other people who should have led on these decisions, eg cabinet members who are of higher calibre and expertise and experience than the advisers. Furthermore, more discussion with more people gets better decisions. This is obvious with the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and Stalin as leaders who accumulated power. But the book is full of examples of other leaders to make the case. I wish history at schools was taught about these leaders and events, the 20th century is about more than Hitler but sadly that’s too often all children are taught about. I don’t know that the author’s case is conclusively proven - it’s hard to make this into a scientific argument. But it’s fascinating to read and - especially as the author dislikes Tony Blair greatly - to read it in light of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership style. A really enjoyable and thoughtful book.
Review: Strong leaders might not be good leaders - The idea that the more power one individual leader wields, the more we should be impressed by that leader is an illusion. Where corners are cut because one leader is sure he knows best, problems follow, and they can be on a disastrous scale, according to Archie Brown in this book. The book examines the leadership styles of a large range of political leaders including dictators and democratic leaders. The author’s essential thesis is that it is unhelpful to rate political leaders on a single strong-weak scale given that there are so many different dimensions to effective leadership, and indeed leaders who are unconstrained by others in making their decisions tend to make significantly poorer decisions. Mao Zedong was a better leader in the early days of the Chinese Communist Party than when he acquired a position of absolute power. Tony Blair made his poorest decisions when he made them without adequate discussion with others. The book tells interesting stories about a very large number of political leaders from the past century. The author has a great deal of personal knowledge of many of those leaders, and the book is an excellent history book. However, it is hard to read the book without observing that the best leaders are rarely the ones who float to the top of the political process, whether in democracies or in dictatorships. The author has provided extensive material to demonstrate the dangers of the “strong” political leader, but the stories do not coalesce into a neat description of the characteristics of a “good” political leader.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,571,200 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #238 in Political Leadership #712 in Comparative Politics #1,034 in General Elections & Political Process |
| Customer Reviews | 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (309) |
| Dimensions  | 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 0465027660 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0465027668 |
| Item Weight  | 1.56 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 480 pages |
| Publication date  | April 8, 2014 |
| Publisher  | Basic Books |

## Images

![The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81MHM74ziML.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fascinating review of 20th century history
*by A***R on October 22, 2017*

The book starts with a simple statement which to me was only obvious after I had read it: concentrating power in a “strong leader” means allocating it arbitrarily to the leader’s personal assistants. Because no single human can cope with the increased volume of information and decisions - despite the myths these “strong leaders” like to perpetuate about themselves - the decisions get made by the close staff of these leaders. This leaves out the other people who should have led on these decisions, eg cabinet members who are of higher calibre and expertise and experience than the advisers. Furthermore, more discussion with more people gets better decisions. This is obvious with the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and Stalin as leaders who accumulated power. But the book is full of examples of other leaders to make the case. I wish history at schools was taught about these leaders and events, the 20th century is about more than Hitler but sadly that’s too often all children are taught about. I don’t know that the author’s case is conclusively proven - it’s hard to make this into a scientific argument. But it’s fascinating to read and - especially as the author dislikes Tony Blair greatly - to read it in light of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership style. A really enjoyable and thoughtful book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong leaders might not be good leaders
*by J***S on June 3, 2014*

The idea that the more power one individual leader wields, the more we should be impressed by that leader is an illusion. Where corners are cut because one leader is sure he knows best, problems follow, and they can be on a disastrous scale, according to Archie Brown in this book. The book examines the leadership styles of a large range of political leaders including dictators and democratic leaders. The author’s essential thesis is that it is unhelpful to rate political leaders on a single strong-weak scale given that there are so many different dimensions to effective leadership, and indeed leaders who are unconstrained by others in making their decisions tend to make significantly poorer decisions. Mao Zedong was a better leader in the early days of the Chinese Communist Party than when he acquired a position of absolute power. Tony Blair made his poorest decisions when he made them without adequate discussion with others. The book tells interesting stories about a very large number of political leaders from the past century. The author has a great deal of personal knowledge of many of those leaders, and the book is an excellent history book. However, it is hard to read the book without observing that the best leaders are rarely the ones who float to the top of the political process, whether in democracies or in dictatorships. The author has provided extensive material to demonstrate the dangers of the “strong” political leader, but the stories do not coalesce into a neat description of the characteristics of a “good” political leader.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ New point of view on leadership
*by T***S on June 10, 2022*

Loved the honest and true information shared

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*Product available on Desertcart Kenya*
*Store origin: KE*
*Last updated: 2026-02-19*