Historys 9 Most Insane Rulers, Scott Rank
Historys 9 Most Insane Rulers, Scott Rank
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History's 9 Most Insane Rulers

Author: Scott Rank

Narrator: Daniel Henning

Unabridged: 7 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/12/2020


Synopsis

Madness and Power

Can the insane rule? Can insanity be a leadership quality? Scott Rank says yes (well, sometimes) in this fascinating look at
nine of history’s most notorious rulers, from the Roman emperor Caligula to the North Korean Communist dictator Kim Jong-il.

Rank paints intimate portraits of these deeply flawed but powerful men, examining the role that madness played in their
lives, the repercussions of their madness on history, and what their madness can tell us about the times in which they lived.

In History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers, you will meet:
• King Charles VI of France, who thought he was made of glass
• Sultan Ibrahim I, who was driven mad by the sadistic succession battles of the Ottoman Empire
• Caligula, who built temples to himself and whose reign highlighted the lethal tensions between the power of the new Imperial Rome and the prerogatives of the old Roman Republic
• The Russian tsar who became known as Ivan “the Terrible”
• King George III of Britain, who not only lost his American colonies, but lost his mind as well
• Bavaria’s “Mad” King Ludwig II, who left the world richer for his fabulous fairy tale castles and his patronage of the composer Richard Wagner

Insane rulers did not die off with the last of the mad monarchs who inherited their power. Rank also examines the rise to
power of crazed modern rulers, such as Idi Amin, who began as a lowly army cook and rose to the presidency of Uganda, and
Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan and promoted a bizarre cult of personality around himself.

Both entertaining and illuminating, History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers is a must-read for anyone interested in the role insanity
has played in history

Reviews

Goodreads review by Hirdesh

3.5......more

Goodreads review by Clark

"History's 9 Most Insane Rulers" sounds like a clickbait Youtube title and that's a little irritating. With the exception of a few, "insane" would be an incorrect assessment of most of their mental states. Many of these rulers were of sound mind, but were immoral, tyrannical or even just eccentric.......more

Goodreads review by Katie

Some interesting tidbits but overall pretty dry. I will say that “The Mad King Ludwig II” was fascinating though. Another road trip listen with the hubs.......more