Explore the tyrants who have shaped the course of history. All power corrupts, but absolute power can turn people into absolute monsters. The true stories behind the men and women who led tyrannies around the world. This is history. but not as you know it. Leading readers through all of world history, Ben Gazur looks at how tyrants and their regimes have shaped the course of humanity from the earliest times right up until the modern day. From the first Ancient Greek tyrants to those who still dominate nations today, dictators have always been pulling the strings. In 50 bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, A Short History of the World in 50 Tyrants examines their rise to power, how they stayed there, and how they were overthrown, investigating their lives and crimes.

Readers will learn how: Catherine the Great seized the throne from her own husband Adolf Hitler created a cult of personality to assume complete control Julius Caesar met his end under a rain of stabs on the senate floor. Follow the whims, eccentricities, and evil acts of dictators across the millennia, such as the deadly search for immortality by the first Chinese Emperor, the wily machinations of the Emperor Augustus, and the crushing brutality of Pol Pot's rule.