In Nasty Characters we meet some of the worst dictators and tyrants in world history across 24 short but horrific biographies, Nero, Olav II Haraldsson, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin among them. The presentations are framed by the author’s own experiences with little tyrants when he himself was a schoolboy, and in-between there are enlightening texts on topics such as democracy, dictatorship, and ideologies.
The book is illustrated throughout with colourful but horrible images.
Jan Christopher Næss and Geir Moen(ill.)
Julie Pike
Jan Christopher Næss was born in England in 1964. He moved to Norway as a 7-year-old and grew up in the Frogner borough of Oslo. He lived for many years in the town of Marker in the county of Østfold, but has since returned to Oslo. He was educated as a Norwegian teacher and still does so part-time, having debuted as an author in 1999. Næss also works as a translator and has been an instructor, actor and playwright for the amateur theatre. He was awarded the Riksmål Society Literature Prize for his last novel, It Starts with Sex and Ends with Death.