Dictatorship: It's Easier Than You Think!

Sarah Kendzior · Andrea Chalupa

Jun 2023 · Sold by First Second

About this ebook

Co-hosts of the popular podcast Gaslit Nation outline the authoritarian's playbook, illuminating five steps every dictator needs to take to successfully amass and maintain power.

Do you crave the power to shape the world in your image?

Can you tell lies without blinking an eye?

Do you see enemies all around you?

If you answered yes to all of the above, then this is the job for you! And if becoming a dictator sounds intriguing, well, you’ve just stumbled upon the playbook that will guide you step by step towards making your big lie a reality.

Join Gaslit Nation co-hosts Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa, with artist Kasia Babis, on a journey from riches to even more riches. They’ll show you how to consolidate your authority, silence your critics, weaponize your citizens, and even prolong your inevitable downfall!

Dictatorship! It’s easier than you think.

Ratings and reviews

DICTATORSHIP: It's Easier than You Think! provides an incredibly immersive and informative dive into authoritarianism and totalitarianism's historical and contemporary realms. Drawing upon knowledge I absorbed three decades ago in my college years; this book served as a refreshing and enlightening lens through which to view the subject. Andrea and Sarah have remarkably intertwined an in-depth understanding of these complex political concepts with American, European, and world history, thus providing a comprehensive perspective that is both riveting and educational. The superb graphics add a layer of accessibility, making it not just a read but a visually engaging experience. It is indeed a 'must-read' for anyone looking to comprehend the intricacies of political power dynamics.

About the author

Sarah Kendzior is the author of the bestselling books The View From Flyover Country, Hiding in Plain Sight, and They Knew. She is the co-host of the acclaimed podcast Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and was named by Foreign Policy as one of the “100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events.” Kendzior has a PhD in anthropology from Washington University, where she researched authoritarian regimes of the former Soviet Union. She lives in St. Louis.

Andrea Chalupa is the writer and producer of the award-winning journalistic thriller Mr. Jones, directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring James Norton, Peter Sarsgaard, and Vanessa Kirby, about Stalin’s genocide famine in Ukraine. She is the co-host of Gaslit Nation with Sarah Kendzior and helped launch #DigitalMaidan, a hashtag of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan Revolution and the 2017 March for Truth, demanding transparency in the Russia/Trump investigation. She graduated from UC Davis and regularly speaks about Ukraine and Russia to the press and schools. She lives in Brooklyn.


Kasia Babis is a Polish cartoonist, illustrator and political activist with an online following of over 100,000 fans. Her viral comics succinctly skewer social issues ranging from racism to street harassment from a distinctly feminist perspective.