Posted May 10, 2006
If you buy just one coffee table book this season, it should be Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots, by well-known journalist and style guru Peter York. Do not skip the hilarious introduction by Douglas Coupland, then go on to peruse the often fabulously tacky homes of such oppressive rulers as Hitler, Idi Amin, Lenin, and the like. You even get a peek inside Imelda Marcos’s shoe closet. It’s a funny take on the notion that our homes are a reflection of our true selves. I have just two complaints: 1) I wish some of the pictures were in color, and 2) I wish there was more! (Neither, it should be noted, is the author’s fault).
$25 at chroniclebooks.com.