"Ben-Ghiat’s Strongmen...will serve as a guidebook for navigating through this ongoing authoritarian turn in American politics. In examining the political tendencies, as well as dictatorships, of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Muammar Gaddafi, and Augusto Pinochet, among others, Strongmen answers... questions perplexing... many... [and] brings to the fore stories of resistance, many based on personal interviews that give hope and encouragement. ...Ben-Ghiat’s historical evidence is repeatedly complimented with references ...to her authoritarian playbook... making it ...easy to see what such disparate figures as Berlusconi, Putin, and Trump share in common. Firsthand accounts from survivors of autocracies are interspersed... adding poignancy to the horror... [S]ocieties... faced with extreme ideological polarization and inter-communal tensions can either succumb to authoritarian forces or stop the cycle with , solidarity, and love. In... the United States, this may seem simplistic and even impossible, but these are what strongmen fear the most, and... keeping hope alive is an act of resistance. In clarifying the authoritarian formula, Strongmen is an exhortation to appreciate and collectively protect our fragile democracy."