Big Caesars and Little Caesars

Who said that dictatorship was dead? The world today is full of Strong Men and their imitators. Caesarism is alive and well. Yet in modern times, it’s become a strangely neglected subject. Ferdinand Mount opens up a fascinating exploration of how and why Caesars seize power and why they fall.

"Fast paced and impassioned" -- Sunday Telegraph

"Wonderfully wry" -- The Guardian

"...a delight" -- Sunday Times

"Delicious work, beautifully and acerbically written" -- Wall Street Journal

There is a comforting illusion shared by historians and political commentators, from Fukuyama back to Macaulay, Mill, and Marx, that history progresses in a nice straight line towards liberal democracy or socialism, despite the odd hiccup.

In reality, every democracy, however sophisticated or stable it may look, has been attacked or actually destroyed by a would-be Caesar, from Ancient Greece to the present day. Marx was wrong. This Caesarism is not an absurd throwback, it is an ever-present danger.

There are Big Caesars who set out to achieve total social control and Little Caesars who merely want to run an agreeable kleptocracy without opposition: from Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell through Napoleon and Bolivar, to Mussolini, Salazar, De Gaulle and Trump. The saga of Boris Johnson and Brexit frequently crops up in the author's narrative as a vivid, if Lilliputian, instance of the same phenomenon.

Mount's work is both a historical and contemporary analysis, canvassing a wide range of would-be Caesars who have left their mark on history. He provides a detailed account of the ambitious forces behind these figures, revealing a timeless yearning for power that persists across centuries and continents. His narrative seamlessly integrates the ancient with the modern, demonstrating that the spectre of Caesarism is a perpetual threat to democratic institutions.

The final part of Big Caesars and Little Caesars describes how and why would-be Caesars come to grief, from the Gunpowder Plot to Trump’s march on the Capitol and the ejection of Boris Johnson by his own MPs. Mount concludes with a defence of the grubby glories of parliamentary politics and a thought-provoking roadmap of the way back to constitutional government.

This book is an essential read for anyone interested in political science, history, or the modern global political landscape. Ferdinand Mount's writing is a deft blend of insightful critique, historical narrative, and wry commentary, making Big Caesars and Little Caesars a compelling and informative read that resonates with the political realities of today.