Idi Amin’s shag rug, Saddam Hussein’s murals, what appears to be colonic-irrigation equipment in Nicolae Ceausescu palace (whose construction required the demolition of 7,000 structures) … laugh and cry as you pore through vintage photographs detailing the home decor of infamous men and women whom style-guru York calls “the world’s most colorful despots,” but who he also concedes were responsible for untold suffering, ruined nations, and the deaths of millions. York’s commentary is nothing short of irresistible: for instance, tiled pavilions were given to Zaire’s Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (who called himself “the All-Powerful Warrior, Who, Because of His Endurance and Inflexible Will to Win, Will Go From Conquest to Conquest, Leaving Fire in His Wake”) by “the freedom-loving People’s Republic of China, though God only knows what Mao expected in return.”
Grade: A