George Bush, Stalin, Mao and 'history' reading leaders

The Times article continued: "In the history that Bush tells, his story is clear-cut: a Manichean battle between good and evil, fought with history on his side. 'I admired Lincoln's moral clarity,' he writes."

Unfortunately, many admired Adolf Hitler for the same reason! Such "moral clarity" was also shared by the likes of Stalin and Mao.

Tudor Rickards has suggested that many people have a negative pre-conception of my book because they suspect that I am supporting, or promoting, the management practices of "dictators". But, as Tudor understood, my intent was exactly the opposite - I wanted to warn people about how easily it is to fall under dictatorial power! My book is about everything - except "moral clarity". My book is about reality! And the best way to avoid abuse of power is to avoid extreme "moral clarity".

If people do not read a balanced account of the lives of such people as Napoleon, Stalin, Ataturk, Mussolini, Hitler and Mao, they will find it difficult to understand their attractions and thus avoid those attractions in the future. Then history is indeed "condemned" to be repeated.