Some readers will be grumpy, and rightly, about the omission of Americans. Shouldn’t Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, for instance, star in a head count of the most salient makers of modern Europe? Mr. Kershaw, an eminent British historian and the author of a monumental two-volume biography of Hitler, offers a poor reason for their exclusion ... Some of his choices are questionable in other ways ... Some may also find odd the inclusion of Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian dictator, but Mr. Kershaw makes a lively case for him ... A deft and thoughtful work of synthesis, drawing the best from many distinguished scholars ... The best chapters in Personality and Power are on the three Germans.
The book’s structure (neither biographies nor narratives) can feel awkward, but each case study buttresses Kershaw’s conclusion that the 12 'were not just makers of the 20th century' but 'were also made by it' ... Interplay of the individual and their context animates all of Kershaw’s case studies, not least in the Soviet Union ... There is, wisely, no unifying theory of personality and power in Kershaw’s conclusions.
A dozen lucid portraits of the leaders – half of them dictators, the others democrats, to varying degrees – who shaped Europe’s 20th century ... Kershaw fills his lively profiles with revealing details of the leaders’ characters, their working style and relations with the ruling structures that supported them ... Kershaw is at his most masterful in his sketches of the three German leaders in this book. He is also very good on Mussolini and De Gaulle. He is less convincing on Lenin and Stalin, where his reliance on secondary sources makes for a flat and conventional account ... Kershaw devotes the final chapter to a summing up of the factors that defined the exercise of power by all 12 leaders in the book. His purpose, as he tells at the start, is to test seven propositions about personal leadership. They are all fairly obvious ... There is much to be admired in Kershaw’s cogent and astute analysis of these leaders in power, but I’m not sure there are any general lessons to be learned.
He proves a splendid miniaturist, expertly sketching personalities and philosophies in a few coolly judged lines ... If Kershaw’s book has a contemporary lesson, it is that societies are probably happiest and healthiest when leaders matter least.
Enlightening and stimulating ... These excellent in-depth profiles of major figures and their influence on millions of people help us better understand why the world is as it is today.
Authoritative ... Kershaw shows how better understanding the processes behind the rises and roles of leaders can provide insight into contemporary autocracy in countries like Turkey, Hungary, Russia, and China ... Through sharp profiles of key figures, Kershaw provides an important framework for understanding power and how it is used.
Astute ... Striking an expert balance between personality profiles and political and social analysis, this is a rewarding study of a turbulent century in European history.
