Tyrants seize control of states and empires with military hardware such as swords and guns, but their armoury contains another forceful weapon: language. In this entertaining and revealing history, professional speechwriter Guy Doza charts how some of the most bloodthirsty and energetic dictators grabbed and maintained power through their skilled use of words. The Language of Evil features 18 men and women – emperors, kings and queens, and politicians – including the archetypal despots Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Others are more recent rulers from across the world: the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, India’s Indira Gandhi, and President Mobutu, the kleptomaniac ruler of Zaire. Whatever their sex or nationality or reputation, each was a master manipulator. Even the warriors of the Middle Ages, mighty men such as Chinggis Khan and Attila the Hun, glorified for their violence, delivered eloquent heartfelt speeches to their friends and soldiers.
