Book review: Kershaw examines a dozen political leaders in Personality and Power

If there is a weakness in this excellent, provocative book it is that Kershaw, like a Michelin star chef or one of the dictators he writes about, seems to have moved beyond the reach of the normality that might flow from an assertive editor

Kershaw considers three Russian leaders — Lenin, Stalin, and Gorbachev — in the dozen political leaders featured in ‘Personality and Power’.

• Personality and Power:
• Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe
• Ian Kershaw
• Allen Lane, £30.00