Jay Nordlinger

I read this book because of the author, Jay Nordlinger. He does not write uninteresting stuff. I first ran across his work in National Review. This caused me to establish an email folder where I store writings he shares through blogs and emails. Anything he writes will be from a fresh approach and will incorporate a subtle and somewhat cutting sense of humor. An author that writes of the Nobel Peace Prize also writing a book with a title like Child of monsters at first inspired me to download the free sample from Amazon. Then I couldn’t resist buying the book.

Nordlinger begins by writing that this is not a book about the original monsters, the dictators themselves. While they must be mentioned, they are dead. The offspring are important for a few reasons. Where are they now? What are they doing? Do their current activities serve as a possible springboard for the resurgence of policies of the original dictators? Have the children decided to live in as much as obscurity as possible? Are the children defensive about their parents lingering reputation? Are they trying to make amends or apologies for their parents?

All of these questions are addressed by Nordlinger. Not necessarily answered, but addressed with researched information from primary and secondary sources. The 20 chapter titles are each the name of a dictator. The index with hyperlinked page numbers allows the reader to explore the overlaps in the lives of several of the dictators such as Hitler-Mussolini, Hitler-Franco, and Hitler-Stalin.
A thoroughly fast-paced and enjoyable (despite the topic) read, I found that after finishing it, I had abandoned my usual practice of highlighting what I considered important points. That is why I liked the inclusion of an index.
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