www.twocities.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nMoore:<\/strong> You\u2019ve written a history of the Nobel Peace Prize. Is Children of Monsters<\/em> a companion work? Seriously, what led you to write such an offbeat kind of book?<\/p>\nNordlinger: <\/strong>Some years ago, I was in Albania, which had suffered one of the worst dictatorships of the 20th century: that of Enver Hoxha. There was nothing else like it on earth, except for the dictatorship of Kim Il-sung in North Korea. (Hoxha admired Kim.) It occurred to me, \u201cDid Hoxha have children? And if so, what must their lives be like?\u201d That led to Children of Monsters<\/em>.<\/p>\nMoore:<\/strong> Twenty dictators are featured in your book. How did these twenty make the Nordlinger cut?<\/p>\nNordlinger:<\/strong> I went for the worst of the worst. To be blunt about it, body count mattered. Terror mattered. Degree of totalitarianism mattered. I have a few in there who don\u2019t belong in a book called Children of Monsters<\/em> \u2013 Franco is the obvious example \u2013 but most qualify beyond a shadow of a doubt: Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Saddam, et al.<\/p>\nMoore:<\/strong> Sadly, I can say (as I believe everyone can) I\u2019ve interacted with dictator types in business, church, the arts, sports, and academia. Do the infamous dictators we typically think of simply have more access to power, and thus more opportunity to evil? In other words, is being a dictator more common than many of us may tend to think?<\/p>\nNordlinger:<\/strong> I\u2019m sure that\u2019s right. The dictators I have studied have some things in common. They tend to be quite smart (unfortunately). Often street-smart, but smart nonetheless. They tend to be charismatic. And they are, of course, ruthless.<\/p>\nThey also feel themselves born to rule.<\/p>\n
Moore:<\/strong> The nature v. nurture debate continues apace. You briefly touch on this in your comparison\/contrast between the two sons of Ceausescu. Now that you have finished writing do you have any further thoughts on why some children of moral monsters turn out okay, even denying their father\u2019s wicked ways?<\/p>\nNordlinger:<\/strong> I think this has to do with strength of conscience. Also, whom has a person been exposed to? I think of Svetlana Stalin, whose mother killed herself when she was six. Her brother, who was eleven, was raised by Stalin\u2019s bodyguards: the hardest, most vicious men in the Soviet secret police. But Svetlana was raised by a nanny who was a warm Christian woman. That must have helped.<\/p>\nMoore:<\/strong> Notable in your list of dictators is the lack of women. Granted, there are many less women in human history who hold the reigns of political power, and there are some women who were very much a team player during their husband\u2019s oppressive regime. I think right away of Elena Ceausescu. Given all that, do you think men tend towards violence more than women?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nordlinger:<\/strong> I think they commit<\/em> more violence than women. Are women equally supportive of violence? That would be hard to measure. All of these dictators \u2013 the worst of the monsters \u2013 have had their fans, very much including women.<\/p>\nMoore:<\/strong> In your chapter on Stalin, I have more marginal \u201cWows\u201d than any other chapter.\u00a0\u00a0 Stalin\u2019s daughter, Svetlana, rejected her father\u2019s ideology and called him a \u201cmoral and spiritual monster.\u201d To what degree do you think travel outside her homeland contributed to rejecting her father\u2019s ideology?<\/p>\nNordlinger: She had not really traveled outside her homeland before rejecting her father\u2019s ideology. What did it, I think, was her conversion to Christianity. Also, Stalin had imprisoned or killed her beloved relatives \u2013 aunts, uncles, cousins \u2013 which hastened her skepticism, let\u2019s say.<\/p>\n
But you\u2019re right: When Svetlana had the opportunity to go to India, her stay in that country made her more aware than ever of life outside the Soviet Union. She later wrote that India had \u201cset free something in me.\u201d While in India, she \u201clost the habit\u201d of a Soviet way of life. And she sought political asylum in the U.S. embassy.<\/p>\n
Moore:<\/strong> What are few reasons why people ought to read Children of Monsters: an Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators<\/em>?<\/p>\nNordlinger:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s not for me to say! But I can tell you what others have said. They have learned something about dictatorship. And about families. And about human beings. Also, they have been left with an enhanced appreciation of what we have here in the West: liberal democracy, the rule of law \u2013 in short, freedom.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Children of Monsters Jay Nordlinger is senior editor of National Review. He also contributes as a music critic to The New Criterion. His book, Children of Monsters\u00a0 framed this interview. David George Moore conducted the interview. Dave blogs at www.twocities.org. Moore: You\u2019ve written a history of the Nobel Peace Prize. Is Children of Monsters a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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