History's 9 Most Insane Rulers

by Scott Rank

Madness and Power.

Can the insane rule? Can insanity be a leadership quality? Scott Rank says yes (well, sometimes) in this fascinating look at nine of history’s most notorious rulers, from the Roman emperor Caligula to the North Korean Communist dictator Kim Jong-il.

Rank paints intimate portraits of these deeply flawed but powerful men, examining the role that madness played in their lives, the repercussions of their madness on history, and what their madness can tell us about the times in which they lived.

In History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers, you will meet:

• King Charles VI of France, who thought he was made of glass
• Sultan Ibrahim I, who was driven mad by the sadistic succession battles of the Ottoman Empire
• Caligula, who built temples to himself and whose reign highlighted the lethal tensions between the power of the new Imperial Rome and the prerogatives of the old Roman Republic
• The Russian tsar who became known as Ivan “the Terrible”
• King George III of Britain, who not only lost his American colonies, but lost his mind as well
• Bavaria’s “Mad” King Ludwig II, who left the world richer for his fabulous fairy tale castles and his patronage of the composer Richard Wagner

Insane rulers did not die off with the last of the mad monarchs who inherited their power. Rank also examines the rise to power of crazed modern rulers, such as Idi Amin, who began as a lowly army cook and rose to the presidency of Uganda, and Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan and promoted a bizarre cult of personality around himself.

Both entertaining and illuminating, History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers is a must-read for anyone interested in the role insanity has played in history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Historical

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2020

Reviews

[Ieva · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 zvaigznes. Grāmatas nosaukums ir kā uzmanību aizķert gribošam rakstam - saturs ir tieši tik interesants, kā tāds nosaukums sola, bet nekas vairāk kā vēsturiska izklaide jau tajā arī nav. Autors it kā mēģina pastāstīt, kas par kaiti varētu būt bijusi šiem valdniekiem, bet ar atrunu, ka īstenībā jau neko nezinām, jo neviens specialists dzīves laikā neizmeklēja un nepublicēja savu atzinumu, un vispār mēs daudz ko lasām no apšaubāmiem avotiem, kas gribēja pasnieg informāciju tādā gaismā, kā sev izdevīgi. Deviņi valdnieki, kas izvēlēti ir Senās Romas imperators Kaligula, Krievijas cars Ivans IV Rurikovičs jeb Ivans Bargais, Osmaņu impērijas sultāns Ibrahims I, Francijas karalis Šarls VI, Lielbritānijas karalis Džordžs III, Bavārijas karalis Ludvigs II, Ugandas prezidents Idi Amins Dada, Turkmenistānas prezidents Saparmurats Nijazovs jeb Turkmenbaši un Ziemeļkorejas līderis Kims Čenirs. Kāpēc tieši šie - godīgi sakot, tā arī nesapratu.

[Hirdesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"History's 9 Most Insane Rulers" sounds like a clickbait Youtube title and that's a little irritating. With the exception of a few, "insane" would be an incorrect assessment of most of their mental states. Many of these rulers were of sound mind, but were immoral, tyrannical or even just eccentric. Aside from that, the information on each king, dictator or emperor is surprisingly well-researched. With the exception of Caligula and Kim Jong-un the others talked about in this book are not often discussed. It is nice to learn about figures from history I might never have researched on my own like Idi Amin of Uganda or Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan. If you are interested in history but don't know which country/figure to read about next, definitely give it a shot.

The rulers discussed are:
1. Caligula, Rome
2. Charles IV, France
3. George III, England
4. Ivan the Terrible, Russia
5. Ibrahim I, Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
6. Ludwig II, Bavaria (Germany)
7. Idi Amin, Uganda
8. Berdymukhammedov, Turkmenistan
9. Kim Jong-un, N. Korea

[Alisiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable and quick read. While the book does not go into a lot of detail on each ruler, it does provide the reader a starting place in which to find more information.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits but overall pretty dry. I will say that “The Mad King Ludwig II” was fascinating though. Another road trip listen with the hubs.

[Hazel Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating perspective on how power can lead to some pretty wacky behavior. A lot of the negative comments I have read elsewhere focus on how this is anti-Trump propaganda, when there is very little mention of Trump whatsoever, maybe a couple of paragraphs at most. In fact, the author notes that compared to some of the whack jobs he is going to talk about, Trump is "not even close to being one of the truly mad leaders. The truly mad leaders compete at a completely different level." So conservatives got all worked up about slights that they themselves had invented out of ignorance.

The leaders discussed are:
1. Ivan the Terrible (psychopath)
2. Caligula (psychopath)
3. Charles IV (I don't remember what the conclusion was)
4. Ibrahim I (psychopath, manipulated by others)
5. George III (probably arsenic poisoning from medication)
6. Ludwig II (more eccentric than actually crazy, and probably gay and shamed for it)
7. Idi Amin (psychopath/sadist)
8. Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan (narcissist)
9. Kim Jong-un (narcissist)

The author never discusses Trump after the introduction. Instead, he describes the behavior of the aforementioned leaders, then discusses whether or not they were likely to be considered insane by today's experts. Very well written and engaging.

[Mayar Mahdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5


If I were designing a list of insane rulers. I would have made different decisions, but I found this list quite entertaining.

[Aubrie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is a little hard to rate, because there are multiple sections. Some were written better than others. The introduction should have warned me. It went off on a tangent only to disclaim said tangent, so there was really no reason to go off on the first place.
I prefer biographies written in in chronological order. Some of these sections were, some of them weren’t.
Also, I wasn’t expecting actual biographies. 😆 I was expecting it to delve more in to the actual madness of these rulers, but they really were more like brief biographies that just touched on madness.

Clean: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There is some mention of death and gore, but that’s too be expected. I don’t think there was any language.

Fun: ⭐️⭐️ I kind of already mentioned my feelings on the book. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it was still fairly informative.

[Vakaris the Nosferatu · Rating 4 out of 5]

all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu

My Opinion: The first two or three chapters were pretty interesting, and that’s what gets the points. Later on as we proceed into more and more recent times there comes a need to google facts. Or rather, there’s these moments where I secretly wondered on whether author had access to internet, or maybe there was a non-disclosure agreement of some sort, for author, seemingly accidentally, blackens the name of poor people that are held hostage by their insane leaders.

It’s an okay book that I can give a 4 out of 5 for the sake of writing consistency. But please do remember, search engines are your friends.

[Teddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt the rulers picked for this book have a large gap in how they were insane. I also think picking just nine was a mistake since I wondered what the criteria was for picking those particular nine. A couple of them made sense since they were designated as famously mad- however some of the nine was just choosing.
The history and descriptions of each ruler and their madness were also too brief a summery. This book would have been much more helpful if it had been longer.

[Tabithia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the book. Are their other insane rulers out there? Absolutely, but this book gave a little glimpse into some that may be less discussed in history class (at least in the US). The book left me wanting to dig deeper and honestly, I think that may have been the goal. A book more accessible to us that normally don't read history books but are still interested.

[Vachan Hukkeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good...but could have been much better.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book felt kind of light/cursory, but I did pick up some new things about a couple historical figures I knew nothing about. Wasn’t a terrible book, but certainly isn’t a must read.

[Gussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't a huge fan of the writing but it was a quick read.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounding up. Really a 2.5. Informative, but too conclusory without support. Insane is the wrong sobriquet for this book.