- Published: 13 June 2023
- ISBN: 9781529113556
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $24.99
The Age of The Strongman
How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World

















- Published: 13 June 2023
- ISBN: 9781529113556
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $24.99
A carefully written analysis of strongman leaders all over the world and the threat they pose to liberal democracy... Rachman illuminates the common instincts, tactics and behaviour that link leaders as diverse as Trump, Putin, Xi and Modi
Anne Applebaum
This readable book does an admirable job of providing the lay of the land and highlighting the importance of the battle of ideas for the future of our institutions and norms
Daron Acemoglu, coauthor of Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor
Essential and definitive... To understand the chilling stakes of the global Great Game defining this century - the battle between autocracies and democracies - you need only turn to Rachman's magisterial and deftly written book
Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People
Timely, laser-sharp and unsettling. In telling us about strongmen who dominate politics around the world, Gideon Rachman paints a picture that is at turns illuminating and terrifying. A must read
Peter Frankopan, author of The New Silk Roads
A searing analysis... A superb and scintillating portrait, indispensable for understanding our crisis-riven age
Shruti Kapila, author of Violent Fraternity: Indian Political Thought in the Global Age
When it comes to making sense of today's world, Gideon Rachman is in a league of his own. He is sharp, original and unsentimental.
Ivan Krastev, co-author of The Light that Failed
In a chaotic world where old definitions of left and right no longer hold, Rachman expertly and artfully surfaces the underlying political, economic and cultural patterns behind the new authoritarianism across the world
Peter Pomserantsev, author of This Is Not Propaganda
This is a brilliant, unsettling portrait of our era
Rana Mitter, author of China’s Good War
Timing is everything. Gideon Rachman has got his spot on with The Age Of The Strongman
Daily Mail
Timely...Rachman... has a journalist's eye for the telling quote combined with a sharp analysis of the factors that enabled them to achieve power and hold on to it
Sunday Times
Rachman... always prompt[s] deeper thought about how the West should be dealing with the challenge [of the strongman]... [a] lucid, well-argued book
Roger Boyes, The Times
Fascinating...Rachman uncovers a source of contemporary authoritarian thinking in many places
Literary Review
Wide-ranging and astute... Rachman's most powerful point concerns not the strongmen themselves, but Western politicians' and commentators' wishful thinking about them
Economist
This is a book whose significance is enhanced by unpredictable events... [A] pithy and forceful book
Misha Glenny, Observer
Brilliant and profoundly alarming... a comprehensive survey, written with pace, clarity, and a superb, page-turning narrative fluency
Scotsman
Solidly constructed, engaging and factually sound... A penetrating distillation of the essential ingredients of the strongman
Financial Times
A series of fluent, well-informed essays about the global rise of authoritarianism
Simon Tisdall, Guardian
[A] brilliant and profoundly alarming book... Gideon Rachman offers a comprehensive survey, written with pace, clarity, and a superb, page-turning narrative fluency
Joyce McMillan, Yorkshire Post
This brilliant and profoundly alarming book...offers a comprehensive survey, written with pace, clarity, and a superb, page-turning narrative fluency
Scotsman, *Summer Reads of 2022*
Essential reading... Recent events in eastern Europe and beyond make it all the more timely
The Times, *Books of the Year*