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Dictatorship study to Harvill Secker

01.01.70 | Benedicte Page

Harvill Secker has acquired a non-fiction work about contemporary dictatorships written by US journalist William J Dobson.

Publisher Liz Foley bought UK and Commonwealth rights in the title, The Dictator's Learning Curve, from Knopf foreign rights manager Suzanne Smith. Harvill Secker will publish in September 2012.

Foley said: "The Dictator's Learning Curve gives a fascinating overview of the connections between battles for democracy that are taking place all over the world. William J Dobson has written a brilliant and enlightening book, drawing on first-hand testimony from those on both sides of these evolving conflicts."

The book details how the contest between democracy and dictatorship has fractured, with regimes facing pressure from dissidents, philanthropists, students and environmentalists, and takes in countries including China, Iran and Venezuela.

Dobson lives in Washington D C, and is politics and foreign affairs editor for online magazine Slate.

• Charlotte Williams
• Harvill Secker
• Liz Foley
• Rights deal
• William J Dobson