Modern Age

Oxford University emeritus politics professor Brown (Rise and Fall of Communism) offers a panoramic view of global leadership mixed with a survey of 20th-century political systems. Brown weighs individuals and governing styles in brief, densely packed studies of Franklin Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, and others change-makers, examining Turkey and Atatürk, Russia and the Bolsheviks, and leaders in totalitarian regimes, including Adolph Hitler. While Brown’s beau ideal of the transformational leader is the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev, he praises Nelson Mandela for the relatively peaceful transition from apartheid in South Africa, and Deng Xiaoping for decisive changes in Chinese communism. Rich in historical detail and insight, Brown’s volume reminds us that face-to-face meetings of world leaders were rare before 1945 and that Neville Chamberlain was the first prime minister to use an airplane in international diplomacy. British politics animate much of the book, with Brown expressing disdain for “strong leaders” with “foreign-policy illusions,” and pointing the finger at Chamberlain, Anthony Eden, and more recently, Tony Blair, whom he accuses of “Napoleonic ambitions.” Brown argues that no American president can be transformational and no president has been so since Abraham Lincoln, a proposition that many U.S. historians will contest. In addition, he sidesteps appraisal of Barack Obama on the premise it’s too early to tell, a caution that will leave some readers unfulfilled. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell. (Apr.)