-
How to Feed a Dictator
- Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Enver Hoxha, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot Through the Eyes of Their Cooks
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Peter Francis James, Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Why We Did It
- A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell
- By: Tim Miller
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the strategists behind the famous 2012 RNC “autopsy,” Miller conducts his own forensic study on the pungent carcass of the party he used to love, cutting into all the hubris, ambition, idiocy, desperation, and self-deception for everyone to see. In a bracingly honest reflection on both his own past work for the Republican Party and the contortions of his former peers in the GOP establishment, Miller draws a straight line between the actions of the 2000s GOP to the Republican political class's Trumpian takeover, including the horrors of January 6th.
-
-
No, Tim!
- By Lori Renard on 06-30-22
By: Tim Miller
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
-
-
excellent and very moving true story
- By Michael on 10-09-12
By: Loung Ung
-
The Last King of Scotland
- By: Giles Foden
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his Maserati, has hit a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, obsessed with all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. So begins a fateful dalliance with the African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
-
-
Worst Production Ever
- By James on 01-24-07
By: Giles Foden
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
Active Measures
- The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare
- By: Thomas Rid
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in the age of disinformation - of organized deception. Spy agencies pour vast resources into hacking, leaking, and forging data, often with the goal of weakening the very foundation of liberal democracy: trust in facts. Thomas Rid, a renowned expert on technology and national security, was one of the first to sound the alarm, even before the 2016 election. But this is not new. The story of modern disinformation begins with the clash between communism and capitalism after the Russian Revolution.
-
-
Grounding book for COVID 19 Media
- By fjness on 05-12-20
By: Thomas Rid
-
Why We Did It
- A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell
- By: Tim Miller
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the strategists behind the famous 2012 RNC “autopsy,” Miller conducts his own forensic study on the pungent carcass of the party he used to love, cutting into all the hubris, ambition, idiocy, desperation, and self-deception for everyone to see. In a bracingly honest reflection on both his own past work for the Republican Party and the contortions of his former peers in the GOP establishment, Miller draws a straight line between the actions of the 2000s GOP to the Republican political class's Trumpian takeover, including the horrors of January 6th.
-
-
No, Tim!
- By Lori Renard on 06-30-22
By: Tim Miller
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
-
-
excellent and very moving true story
- By Michael on 10-09-12
By: Loung Ung
-
The Last King of Scotland
- By: Giles Foden
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his Maserati, has hit a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, obsessed with all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. So begins a fateful dalliance with the African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
-
-
Worst Production Ever
- By James on 01-24-07
By: Giles Foden
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
Active Measures
- The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare
- By: Thomas Rid
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in the age of disinformation - of organized deception. Spy agencies pour vast resources into hacking, leaking, and forging data, often with the goal of weakening the very foundation of liberal democracy: trust in facts. Thomas Rid, a renowned expert on technology and national security, was one of the first to sound the alarm, even before the 2016 election. But this is not new. The story of modern disinformation begins with the clash between communism and capitalism after the Russian Revolution.
-
-
Grounding book for COVID 19 Media
- By fjness on 05-12-20
By: Thomas Rid
-
The Twilight World
- A Novel
- By: Werner Herzog, Michael Hofmann - translator
- Narrated by: Werner Herzog
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former solider famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and would meet many times, talking for hours and together unraveling the story of Onoda’s long war.
-
-
Hard to enjoy
- By Hillary on 08-04-22
By: Werner Herzog, and others
-
Iron, Fire and Ice
- The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones
- By: Ed West
- Narrated by: Rory Barnett
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father’s death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance of her young son, not yet fully grown but already a sadist who takes delight in watching executions.
-
-
Fun history for all -not just Game of Thrones fans
- By Annabells on 06-14-19
By: Ed West
-
Goering
- The Rise and Fall of the Notorious Nazi Leader
- By: Roger Manvell, Heinrich Fraenkel
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Goering, Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel use firsthand testimonies and a variety of historical documents to tell the story of a monster lurking in Hitler's shadows. After rising through the ranks of the German army, Hermann Goering became Hitler's right hand man and was hand-picked to head the Luftwaffe, one of history's most feared fighting forces. As he rose in power, though, Goering became disillusioned and was eventually shunned from Hitler's inner circle.
-
-
POWER HUNGRY
- By Danielle M Brown on 07-01-20
By: Roger Manvell, and others
-
Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
-
-
Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
-
Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
-
-
Beautiful book. Bad German pronunciation.
- By G S. on 02-18-16
By: Ian Kershaw
-
The Last Empire
- The Final Days of the Soviet Union
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
By: Serhii Plokhy
-
How Fascism Works
- The Politics of Us and Them
- By: Jason Stanley
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics.
-
-
A Must Read
- By Jean on 02-18-20
By: Jason Stanley
-
The Third Reich in Power
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive account of Germany's malign transformation under Hitler's total rule and the implacable march to war. This magnificent second volume of Richard J. Evans's three-volume history of Nazi Germany was hailed by Benjamin Schwartz of The Atlantic Monthly as "the definitive English-language account... gripping and precise." It chronicles the incredible story of Germany's radical reshaping under Nazi rule.
-
-
Good but annoying
- By Joanne on 12-22-10
By: Richard J. Evans
-
Mao
- The Unknown Story
- By: Jung Chang, Jon Halliday
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on a decade of research and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative biography of Mao ever written.
-
-
Well written, well read & VERY interesting
- By Jenna on 03-08-08
By: Jung Chang, and others
-
Authoritarian Nightmare
- Trump and His Followers
- By: John W. Dean, Bob Altemeyer
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America end up with a leader who acts so crudely and despotically, and counter to our democratic principles? Why do his followers stick with him, even when he acts against their interests? John Dean, a man with a history of standing up to autocratic presidents, joins with Bob Altemeyer, a psychology professor with a unique area of expertise: authoritarianism. Together, using psychological diagnostic tools, as well as exclusive research and analysis from the Monmouth University Polling Institute, the authors provide us with an eye-opening understanding of the Trump phenomenon.
-
-
Well worth your time
- By kay on 09-06-20
By: John W. Dean, and others
-
A Failed Empire
- The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
- By: Vladimir Zubok
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
-
-
Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
-
The Other Slavery
- The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America
- By: Andrés Reséndez
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andrés Reséndez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, then forced to descend into the "mouth of hell" of 18th-century silver mines or, later, made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos.
-
-
overall a good book
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 01-23-17
By: Andrés Reséndez
Publisher's Summary
“Amazing stories.... Intimate portraits of how [these five ruthless leaders] were at home and at the table.” (Lulu Garcia-Navarro, NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday)
Anthony Bourdain meets Kapuściński in this chilling look from within the kitchen at the appetites of five of the 20th century's most infamous dictators, by the acclaimed author of Dancing Bears.
What was Pol Pot eating while two million Cambodians were dying of hunger? Did Idi Amin really eat human flesh? And why was Fidel Castro obsessed with one particular cow?
Traveling across four continents, from the ruins of Iraq to the savannahs of Kenya, Witold Szabłowski tracked down the personal chefs of five dictators known for the oppression and massacre of their own citizens - Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Uganda’s Idi Amin, Albania’s Enver Hoxha, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Cambodia’s Pol Pot - and listened to their stories over sweet-and-sour soup, goat-meat pilaf, bottles of rum, and games of gin rummy. Dishy, deliciously listenable, and dead serious, How to Feed a Dictator provides a knife’s-edge view of life under tyranny.
Critic Reviews
“Food and history buffs will find these firsthand accounts irresistible.... Throughout, Szabłowski entertains with disturbing rumors, such as [Idi] Amin eating human flesh (whatever the case, his chef never cooked it for him), and strange obsessions ([Fidel] Castro preferred the milk from a single cow named Ubre Blanca, or “white udder”).... These are the kinds of stories only a chef could know.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Its originality and topicality in a world increasingly governed by political strongmen [are] intriguing.... The author shares intimate historical insights into the meaning of life under dictatorship.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Szabłowski writes in a simple, vivid style...with [a] fine sense of the comic and the absurd.” (Orlando Figes, The New York Review of Books)
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about How to Feed a Dictator
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dr. W. P. Czerwinski
- 09-03-20
Masterpiece
Excellent idea, beautifully executed. I have enjoyed every word of this story. And, as a native Pole, living in the United States of America, I can appreciate such a very thorough translation.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AS
- 05-01-20
Utterly Fascinating!
The most fascinating book I’ve read that should be required reading for international poly sci and international affairs. It is a work of daring and bold journalistic achievement. Szablowski obtained the oral testimonies of the chefs who served dictators and asked these culinarians the hard questions we’d all want to ask. The chef’s answers are a revelation of how to survive, and more importantly, how to manipulate, a tyrant. And the insights into the daily lives, the tastes and proclivities, of these evil men, their lavish generosities juxtaposed against their capricious cruelty, render these twentieth century tyrants more inscrutable ever. How could someone capable of such wanton cruelty have such a fondness for ice cream? But also, why shouldn’t he? Ice cream is delicious and a dictator is only human after all, just another animal with needs, wants, and a reward center.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- brian
- 04-30-20
MMMM, food.
A great story combining cooking tidbits with mini bios. Cool stuff here. One of the narrators is one I've heard of, the others, no. Still, a great effort by all of them. 10/10.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Adam O'Connor
- 05-19-20
Cooks up a storm
This book is amazing. I’d read various bio’s on Pol Pot and Castro but the view from the kitchen provides the reader with a very different interpretation of the past. The structure of the book is sliced into sections which makes it accessible to all readers.
This will be the book I will be recommending to people this year.