Don't Know Much About Mummies

Don't Know Much About the Solar System

The ABC's of Black History

Nelson Mandela

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans

Long Walk to Freedom: Illustrated Children's edition

Of Thee I Sing

Me and Muhammad Ali

From the bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About® books comes a dramatic account of the origins of democracy, the history of authoritarianism, and the reigns of five of history's deadliest dictators.

What makes a country fall to a dictator? How do authoritarian leaders—strongmen—capable of killing millions acquire their power? How are they able to defeat the ideal of democracy? And what can we do to make sure it doesn’t happen again?

By profiling five of the most notoriously ruthless dictators in history—Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein—Kenneth C. Davis seeks to answer these questions, examining the forces in these strongmen’s personal lives and historical periods that shaped the leaders they’d become.

Meticulously researched and complete with photographs, Strongman provides insight into the lives of five leaders who callously transformed the world and serves as an invaluable resource in an era when democracy itself seems in peril.

"Strongman is a book that is both deeply researched and deeply felt, both an alarming warning and a galvanizing call to action, both daunting and necessary to read and discuss." —Cynthia Levinson, author of Fault Lines in the Constitution

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Don't Know Much About Mummies

Kenneth C. Davis, S.D. Schindler, 2005

Don't Know Much About the Solar System

Kenneth C. Davis, Pedro Martín, 2001

The ABC's of Black History

Craig A. Thompson, 2004

Nelson Mandela

Emanuel Castro, 2017

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans

Kadir Nelson, 2011

Long Walk to Freedom: Illustrated Children's edition

Nelson Mandela, Chris Van Wyk, 2009

Of Thee I Sing

Barack Obama, 2010

Me and Muhammad Ali

Jabari Asim, A.G. Ford, 2022