Hugo Chavez is a phenomenon. He has been compared to Napoleon, Nasser, Perón and Castro but the truth is there has never been a leader like him. He is democratically elected, reigns like a monarch from a mobile television throne, and provokes adoration and revulsion in equal measure. Future historians will study his rule for what it says about the early twenty-first century. How did a charismatic autocrat seduce not just a nation but a significant part of world opinion? How did he make people laugh and weep and applaud, as if on command? And how does he continue to stay in power despite the crumbling of Venezuela?When he first came to power in 1999, Chávez promised a democratic revolution to transform his country. In Venezuela and elsewhere, he became a symbol of hope and freedom for his people. Yet, in his thirteen years as president, Chávez has seized control of the hugely lucrative Venezuelan oil industry, consolidated government authority under the presidency, allowed basic government functions to wither, jailed and excommunicated political opponents, created a personality cult and courted Castro and Ahmadinejad, all while occupying much of Venezuela's airwaves with his long-running television show "Alo Presidente!" In The Comandante, acclaimed journalist Rory Carroll breaches the walls of Miraflores Palace to tell the inside story of Chavez's life and his political court in Caracas. Based on interviews with ministers, aides, courtiers and citizens, this intimate piece of reportage chronicles a unique experiment in power which veers between enlightenment, tyranny, comedy and farce.

In beautiful prose that blends the lyricism and strangeness of magical realism with the brutal, ugly truth of authoritarianism - a powerful combination reminiscent of Ryszard Kapuscinski's The Emperor - Rory Carroll has written a cautionary tale for our times.