(Doubleday, $29)
Dictators aren’t stupid, said Christian Caryl in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Put Kim Jong Il’s “weird hairstyle” and Muammar al-Qaddafi’s “goofy fashion sense” aside and you might recognize that both recently departed leaders were actually quite good at what they cared about most: holding onto power. In William J. Dobson’s “fascinating” new book, the Slate.com foreign editor takes a close look at five modern authoritarian regimes to tease out the strategies that today’s despots have developed to meet the particular challenges posed by 21st-century democratic movements and the communications technologies that aid the upstarts. In Dobson’s view, the world’s contemporary strongmen have adapted by turning away from violence and co-opting the surface symbols and structures of democracy.
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This book’s scouting reports on democracy’s foes can be dispiriting, said Dwight Garner in The New York Times. Many current autocrats use confusion as an ally, making it hard for dissidents to guess where liberties end in a so-called free press or free election. But Dobson is himself an optimist about where trends are heading in the long run, and he spends many pages chronicling how democracy’s advocates are answering with innovations of their own. “His explanation of how citizens are using fresh, bespoke tools against modern dictators is almost absurdly inspiring.” Here’s hoping those pages reach the right hands.
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August 30 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump's role reversal and King George III
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5 bullseye cartoons about the reasons for mass shootingsCartoons Artists take on gun worship, a price paid, and more
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Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US FedTalking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”