“Children of Monsters” by Jay Nordlinger – Successors of Evil

Dictators inhabit the pages of our history books quite comfortably and have done so for quite some time. Tyrannies are nothing new, and they have existed for so long that many have developed a certain fascination with them, seeking to understand their mechanics to the very core.

Perhaps because of sheer bad luck (or the Illuminati) the 21st century gave rise to a fair number of dictators who left their bloody marks on the world. But more than that, they also left their children, turning them into a chosen few who have been dealt a rather strange hand by life.

In his book Children of Monsters, Jay Nordlinger takes it upon himself to trace the lives lead by the would-be or eventual successors of the 21st century's most infamous dictators. Those include Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, Amin, Hussein, Pol Pot, and a others, totaling twenty.

Needless to say, even though the book is focused on the children themselves the grand villains make their presence known on a few occasions. The book is rather neatly divided as Nordlinger devotes a chapter to each dictator's offspring, narrating the kind of lives they lead and what they had to contend with from a very early age.

Needless to say, most of these stories have a rather heavy atmosphere to them, offering a window into the lives and minds of some of the most evil people to ever exist on the planet.

War, incarceration, and executions are the themes (so to say) of most of those stories, and even though there is some humorous content to be found in there it certainly doesn't do enough to alleviate the dark ambiance. To be fair though, the pages aren't littered with splatters of blood and the screams of the innocent; everything has its rightful place.

The insight given by Nordlinger into those children's minds is rather fascinating; many of them rationalized, sympathized and defended their fathers' actions, others expressed doubts and uncertainty, while a few become full-blown dissidents.

All they have been taught from the beginning of their lives revolved around power, violence, corruption, and wielding godlike powers over countless other people; it is quite interesting to see what they consider to be normal and justifiable behavior.

There are also numerous tidbits of curious information about the private lives of the dictators and their children, such as Stalin's son being a terrible shot or the apparent tradition of daughters of dictators seeing their husbands executed.

Though the book is certainly more than satisfactory when viewed as a collection of stories and anecdotes to cram our heads with, Nordlinger does offer some insight into broader issues, mostly into the corruption of the self that comes along with power and greed.

He also takes the time to examine how political organisms and agendas play a role into shaping the fates of countless people and putting power into the wrong hands.

All in all, Children of Monsters is a very informative and powerful book that touches on something that has flown under the radar, with the children being eclipsed by the shadows their parents cast on history.

It offers some rather interesting insights, whether you're looking to study the psychology of those people or simply learn more facts about history. I heavily recommend it to those of you out there who who have an interest in studying dictatorships.

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Jay Nordlinger Jay Nordlinger is an American writer and journalist who works as the senior editor of National Review. In 2001 he won the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalist as well as the Chan Foundation for Journalism and Culture annual award. Some of his better-known works include Children of Monsters and Peace, They Say.