他们是不近人情的人，拥有不受约束的力量，以铁腕政策控制自己的人民。他们要求国民绝对忠诚，压制一切异见份子，监禁或杀害反对他们的人。虽然他们以个人魅力统治国家，但其内心深处却被深层的恐惧和心魔所蚕食。他们就是独裁者，有些更塑造了20世纪的世界局势，并在世上留下自己残暴的烙印。

从墨索里尼到萨达姆•侯赛因，独裁者塑造了我们生活的世界。是什么促使他们渴望拥有统治权和控制权？他们是如何夺得权力，并掌控于手中？究竟是什么原因驱使人民公然或暗地里反抗他们？独裁者最终的结局又是怎样？

They were ruthless men with unchecked power, controlling their people with an iron fist. Suppressing all dissent, they demanded absolute loyalty, jailing, or killing those who opposed them. They ruled by force of personality, but were plagued by secret fears and private demons. They were dictators—tyrants who shaped the twentieth century and left their mark on our own.

From Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, dictators have shaped the world we live in. What drove their thirst for domination and control? How did they seize and wield power? What forces rose up against them or resisted them in secret? How did they finally come to the end?