After Reading Ian Kershaw’s Politicians and Power

After Reading Ian Kershaw’s Politicians and Power

I recently read Politicians and Power, the publication by the renowned historian Ian Kershaw.
In this book, Kershaw meticulously analyzes twelve political leaders who profoundly shaped the course of twentieth-century Europe and world history. He explores in detail how each leader’s personality influenced the acquisition and exercise of power.

I found his analysis particularly striking in two respects.
First, Kershaw emphasizes the influence of social structures over that of individual agency. This perspective contrasts sharply with the traditional “great man” view of history. To borrow an image from the Korean poet Yi Yuk-sa’s The Wasteland, we often expect a “white-horse-riding hero” to suddenly appear and save the people. Yet Kershaw argues that, no matter how great a leader may be, it is nearly impossible to escape entirely from the political, social, and cultural structures in which they are embedded.

Second, Kershaw classifies the twelve leaders into two categories — “destructive” and “constructive.” Figures such as Stalin, Mussolini, and Lenin devastated Europe, while Churchill, de Gaulle, and Adenauer rebuilt it in the postwar years. Kershaw offers a multidimensional analysis of their political beginnings and lives, carefully comparing how each leader’s style of governance left its mark on history.

Ultimately, he names Hitler as the most influential “destructive leader” and Gorbachev as the most influential “constructive leader” of the twentieth century — the former for igniting World War II, and the latter for effectively dismantling the Cold War order.

The twentieth century was, in many ways, Europe’s century. To understand the history of that era is to grasp the broader current of world history. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone seeking to gain insight into the politics and power structures of the twentieth century.