The extraordinary story of Europe's longest-ruling communist dictator.

This is the first full-length biography of Enver Hoxha, the communist dictator who ruled Albania for nearly half a century. Hoxha was an unreformed Stalinist who was propelled to power with Soviet and Yugoslav help following the defeat of the Axis powers, though he soon broke with his former allies and built a Chairman Mao-like political cult in his tiny and impoverished nation. In this fluent and far-reaching account, Hoxha emerges as a paranoid megalomaniac, interested in maintaining control above all else, who excelled at manipulating his comrades and outsmarting his domestic and international enemies. This important book shines a light on the nature of dictatorship and on a lesser-known chapter in the history of the Cold War.