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On the eve of the next Space Shuttle mission, a divided family comes together!Warm, witty and wise, 'All Families Are Psychotic' is Coupland at the very top of his form.In a cheap motel an hour from Cape Canaveral, Janet Drummond takes her medication, and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her children. Wade has spent the night in jail; suicidal Bryan is due to arrive at any moment with his vowel-free girlfriend, Shw; and then there is Sarah, 'a bolt of lightning frozen in midflash' -- here in Orlando to be the star of Friday's shuttle mission. With Janet's ex-husband and his trophy wife also in town, Janet spends a moment contemplating her family, and where it all went wrong. Or did it? ... Read more

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Welcome to the fabulous lifestyles of the cruel and despotic. Running with the idea that our homes are where we are truly ourselves, Peter York's wildly original and scathingly funny look at the interior decorating tastes of some of history's most alarming dictators proves that absolute power corrupts absolutely, right down to the drapes. Mining rare, jaw-dropping photographs of interiors now mostly (thankfully) destroyed, York's hilarious profiles of 16 inner sanctums of the scary leaves no endangered tiger pelt unturned, from Saddam Hussein's creepy private art collection to General Noriega's Christmas tree to the strange tube and knob contraption in the Ceausescu bathroom. All your favorite dictators are here: Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Tito, Mussolini, Mobutu, Idi Amin, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos -- each with their own uniquely frightful chic. An interior decorating book like no other, Dictator Style is a welcome tonic for a world in need of a good laugh at the expense of the all-powerful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

You won't be able to look away... the yucky way
"Dictator Style" is so repulsive you can't look away.This insight into the homes of some of the most evil men and women of the twentieth century reveals depravity, a ghastly lack of taste, and a glimpse into their lives.

Common themes from a century of dictators are discussed up front.Gold, glass, marble, and 'larger than life' are the essentials.Other influences, are mentioned, but these stuck with me.Looking at the themes common to all the homes profiled, I was put in mind of pictures of Graceland, a Trump casino, or the home of someone who came into money entirely too quickly.As I write, I see that this is redundant.

Imagery from the homes of Mobuto, Ceachescu, Saddam Hussein, Milosovic, Tito, Hitler, The Marcoses, Noreiga, and others, along with discussions of the... design decisions, provides a window into the minds of people who sought out absolute power.Milosovic's home struck me as the most tasteful (overdone for my tastes, but to each his own), without the insane overstatement of many of the others.He stood on the cusp between what appeared to be an 'old school' of over-doing European palaces, and the new school of just over-doing everything.Mobuto was amazing, creating a Chinese palace in Africa.Of course, Saddam Hussein took the cake with his dozens of palaces, in the most hideous taste.Even more interesting was that he routinely retired to very modest quarters.

The snapshots of how these people chose to live are disturbing, pathetic, and tacky all at once.The taste displayed is utterly repulsive, but the people behind the images are so facinating that (in a repulsive way) you can't turn away.

Good Book
Very entertaining and a good present for someone who is difficult to buy for.

Full of lies - no research
Page 102 Slobodan Milosevic. I am shocked that Mr York did not even bother to see who has been living in the Royal Compound in Belgrade following our revolution 5 October 2000. The text is loaded with lies. Mr York did not even bother to inform himself of the facts. For example page 103 shows my desk, a picture of my wife and I and three sons Peter, Philip and Alexander, look at the pen holder with the A and crown. The White House is the White Palace and page 106 shows the main hall with a portrait of my grandfather King Alexander above the fireplace. Page 107 was never a chapel and the theme is about Czar Dushan poems and what Mr York refers to as a cross is a billiard cue holder. My family name is Karadjordjevic and not Kradordevice. There are many more errors. Full of Lies - no proper research

A Book You Can't Quite Put Down, Thankfully It's Small
The front end flap of the dust jacket says a lot about the book. It's a quote from P. J. O'Rourke: 'Saddam's chandelier was the size of a two-car garage. If a reason to invade Iraq was wanted, felony interior decorating would have done.'

This book is a private look into the homes of sixteen dictators from around the world. Here are people to whom money is absolutely no object. But they did not contact Frank Lloyd Wright to seek a brilliant new design. They knew what they liked and they got it.

Many of the photographs come from fifty or more years ago, so you need to temper your view with what was in fashion at the time. This is particularly true of the homes of Hitler, Stalin, Juan Peron. The more recent homes have a kind of fancy hotel lobby look.

The book is fascinating. It's with a kind of macabre fascination that you want to see just how these people lived.

Pairing interior design with a funny look at history's alarming dictators
DICTATOR STYLE: LIFESTYLES OF THE WORLD'S MOST COLORFUL DESPOTS is a hard book to peg: pairing interior design with a funny look at history's alarming dictators, it blends a racy sense of humor with fun profiles of the inner sanctums of the terrifying. Sixteen such interiors - largely bygone by now - are featured along with dictator profiles and 'achievements': you don't know whether to laugh or cry - but will probably wind up doing both.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
... Read more

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From the acclaimed author of Hey Nostradamus! comes a wonderful comic novel with 'more one-liners than a decade of Woody Allen films' (Guardian), about the scramble for love and success in a brave new world!Bill is wise. Bill is kind. Bill is benevolent. Bill, Be My Friend! Please!At computer giant Microsoft, Dan, Susan, Abe, Todd and Bug are struggling to get a life. The job may be super cool, the pay may be astronomical, but they're heading nowhere, and however hard they work, however many shares they earn, they're never going to be as rich as Bill. And besides, with all the hours they're putting in, their best relationships are on e-mail. Something's got to give! ... Read more

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Chapters: Lgbt Artists From Canada, Douglas Coupland, Norman Mclaren, Scott Treleaven, Patrick Fillion, Clara Sipprell, Arthur Erickson, Aa Bronson, Françoise Doherty, Bruce Labruce, Midi Onodera, Sky Lee, General Idea, Attila Richard Lukacs, Mark Kenneth Woods, Richard Fung, Peter Flinsch, Doc and Raider, Dean Deblois, Joe Average, Ralph Hamelmann, Kent Monkman, Sean Martin, Colin Campbell, Noreen Stevens, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Maurice Vellekoop, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Felix Partz, Glen Hanson, Jess Dobkin, Jorge Zontal, the Chosen Family. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 107. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Douglas Coupland (pronounced COPE-lund) (born December 30, 1961) is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and Generation X. He has published thirteen novels, a collection of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. A specific feature of Coupland's novels is their synthesis of postmodern religion, Web 2.0 technology, human sexuality, and pop culture. Coupland currently lives in West Vancouver, British Columbia with his partner David Weir. He published his twelfth novel Generation A in 2009. He is presently working on a biography of Marshall McLuhan for Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" book series, an updated release of City of Glass, and a new television series, Extinction Event. He will also be the presenter of the 2010 Massey Lectures. Coupland was born on December 30, 1961 at a NATO base in Baden-Söllingen, West Germany, the second of four sons to Dr. Douglas Char...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=18949879 ... Read more

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Chapters: Mordecai Richler, Douglas Coupland, Paul Haggis, Jeff Green, Sarah Polley, Jason Reitman, Paul Gross, Paul Quarrington, Mark Askwith, Robert Lepage, Thom Fitzgerald, Mary Harron, Gordon Pinsent, Michael Mahonen, Nell Shipman, Denys Arcand, Guy Maddin, Ian James Corlett, Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers, Stan Daniels, Frances-Anne Solomon, Andrew Younghusband, Leslie Mcfarlane, Ron Sparks, Robert C. Cooper, Phil Comeau, John Mantley, Holly Dale, Rob Heydon, Ken Gord, Jeff Campagna, Fletcher Markle, Joseph Mallozzi, Deepa Mehta, Anne Wheeler, David Winning, Brad Fraser, Maureen Judge, Sidney Olcott, David Shore, Suzanne Jacob, René Balcer, Anais Granofsky, Clement Virgo, Denis Mcgrath, Oren Safdie, Bruce Mcdonald, Chuck Tatham, Martha Ostenso, Mark Palansky, Jack Blum, Patricia Rozema, Claude Jutra, Gilles Carle, John Campea, Roger Frappier, Graham Yost, Stephanie Morgenstern, Hossein Martin Fazeli, Raphael Shore, Pierre Curzi, Bruce Labruce, Dragan Todorovi?, Vic Sarin, David Julian Hirsh, Donald Shebib, Robin Spry, Vittorio Rossi, John Juliani, Emmanuelle Schick Garcia, Leo Orenstein, Adam Smoluk, Xavier Dolan, Stephen Williams, Scott Albert, Roland Michel Tremblay, Joan Finnigan, Dennis Foon, Andrew Currie, Karen X. Tulchinsky, Damian Lee, Annmarie Morais, Jill Golick, Susan Cohen, Bryan Michael Stoller, Michael Maclennan, W. Scott Darling, Craig Olejnik, Hugo Butler, Andrew Miller, Guy Fournier, Mark Kenneth Woods, Bruno Lázaro Pacheco, Vincenzo Natali, Esta Spalding, Zach Lipovsky, Noam Gonick, Greg Preece, Peter Kambasis, John Rogers, Roger Spottiswoode, Allan F. Nicholls, Semi Chellas, Anne Cameron, Roger Lemelin, Stefan Brogren, Giles Blunt, Jacob Tierney, Bernard Slade, Charles Foster, Jason Sherman, Greg Pritikin, John Nesbitt, Tom Walmsley, Dean Deblois, Andrew Kenneth Martin, Richard Sadler, Diane Flacks, Heather O'neill, Stephanie Savage, John Nursall, Michel Choquette, Jean-Louis Millette, Hart Boc...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=18949879 ... Read more

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Chapters: Pitseolak Ashoona, Barton Myers, Douglas Coupland, Allan Fleming, Macy Dubois, Stanley Royle, Barbara Howard, Danièle Rochon, Richard Condie, Art Green, Barbara Astman, Colin Low, Helen Kalvak, Osuitok Ipeelee, Duncan Regehr, Homer Watson, Leo Mol, E. J. Hughes, William Sutherland Maxwell, Percy Erskine Nobbs, James Wilson Morrice, Jean Paul Lemieux, Phyllis Lambert, Ken Danby, William Nichol Cresswell, Lucius Richard O'brien, Sarah Hall, Bruce Mau, John A. Hammond, Robert Harris, Allen Sapp, William Brymner, Norman Campbell, Edwin Holgate, Jessie Oonark, Claude A. Simard, Tony Ianzelo, Noam Gonick, Arthur John Ensor, Clare Bice, Gregory Henriquez, Frederick Arthur Verner, Robert Chaplin, Micheline Beauchemin, John C. Parkin, Aba Bayefsky, S. George Curry, Fenwick Lansdowne, Florence Carlyle, Kananginak Pootoogook, Claude Vermette, William Cruikshank, John Tiktak, Nina Raginsky, Marlene Creates, Cynthia Scott, Helen Mcnicoll, Claude Breeze, Edmund Wyly Grier, Ron Shuebrook, Gord Smith, Fernand Toupin, Mimi Cazort, George Horne Russell, Florence Helena Mcgillivray. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 226. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Barton Myers, FAIA (born in Norfolk, Virginia, November 6, 1934) is an American and Canadian architect and president of Barton Myers Associates, Inc. in Los Angeles, California. Barton Myers graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as a jet-fighter pilot for five years in the United States Air Force, based for three years in England. Following this period he attended architecture courses at Cambridge University and returned to the United States to study architecture. He received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently worked with Louis Kahn. He established his own practice in T...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12315140 ... Read more

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Chapters: Bill Reid, Treffle Berthlaume, Earl W. Bascom, Douglas Coupland, Christian Cardell Corbet, André Fauteux, Philip Aziz, Michael Snow, List of Canadian Artists, Charles Comfort, Gordon A. Smith, Bill Vazan, Ken Lum, Emanuel Hahn, Robert Murray, R. Tait Mckenzie, Walter Seymour Allward, Gligor Stefanov, Mark Prent, Louie Rochon, Eugenia Berlin, Lyle Estill, Nathaniel Milljour, Sorel Etrog, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Osuitok Ipeelee, Ian Carr-Harris, Leo Mol, Rick Gibson, Viktor Mitic, Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook, Norman White, John Hooper, Cleeve Horne, Betty Beaumont, Armand Vaillancourt, Betty Goodwin, Gino Cavicchioli, Blake, Kazuo Nakamura, Lynn Richardson, Claude Tousignant, Jules Lasalle, George Bures Miller, Brian Jungen, David G. Sorensen, Robert Davidson, Ron Joseph Telek, Cosimo Cavallaro, William E. Degarthe, Pierre Granche, Vessna Perunovich, Yves Trudeau, Gerald Gladstone, Peter Flinsch, David Altmejd, Royden Rabinowitch, Ivor Lewis, Sylvia Daoust, Charles Pachter, Jocelyne Alloucherie, Lucille Oille, Jordi Bonet, Joe Fafard, Roland Brener, Robert Chaplin, Peter Camani, N.e. Thing Co., Almuth Lütkenhaus, Frances Loring, Charles Daudelin, Charles Stankievech, Rick Switzer, Eldon Garnet, Louis Archambault, David Ruben Piqtoukun, Guy Pierre, Iain Baxter, Ruth Chambers, Lea Vivot, Raoul Hunter, Esther Wertheimer, Jean Benoît, Wayne Lum, Jana Sterbak, Yechiel Shainblum, Charles Marega, John Boxtel, Eli Ilan, Elizabeth Wyn Wood, Royden Mills, Miguel Joyal, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Gord Smith, Julie Campagna, John Greer, Murray Favro, Barbara Paterson, Pauta Saila, Kim Adams, John Cullen Nugent, Katie Ohe, Floyd Kuptana, Elias Wakan, Henry Saxe, Michel Goulet, Marcel Barbeau, Alan Best, Charles Beil, Victor Tolgesy. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 350. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4888396 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from American Review of Canadian Studies, published by Association for Canadian Studies in the United States on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 4102 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Review essay: Canada in a Coma.(Douglas Coupland books) (book review)
Author: Jefferson Faye
Publication: American Review of Canadian Studies (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
Volume: 31Issue: 3Page: 501(11)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Chapters: Douglas Coupland, Kenneth G. Mills, Alan Beddoe, Shelagh Armstrong, George Grie, Omer Arbel, James Archibald Houston, Ruth Howard, Don Watt, Martha Ladly, Dora de Pedery-Hunt, Alexander Manu, Kingsley Ng, Margaret Lindsay Holton, Eric Mcmillan, Leo Obstbaum, Marcel Dzama, Robert Vanderhorst, Charles Pachter, Germaine Arnaktauyok, Leanne Shapton, Oscar Orenstein, Henry Orenstein, Vincent Marcone, Kit Rae, Ryann Aoukar, Paul Weldon, Janet L. Hetherington, Sid Ramnarace. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 112. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Douglas Coupland (pronounced COPE-lund) (born December 30, 1961) is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and Generation X. He has published thirteen novels, a collection of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. A specific feature of Coupland's novels is their synthesis of postmodern religion, Web 2.0 technology, human sexuality, and pop culture. Coupland currently lives in West Vancouver, British Columbia with his partner David Weir. He published his twelfth novel Generation A in 2009. He is presently working on a biography of Marshall McLuhan for Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" book series, an updated release of City of Glass, and a new television series, Extinction Event. He will also be the presenter of the 2010 Massey Lectures. Coupland was born on December 30, 1961 at a NATO base in Baden-Söllingen, West Germany, the second of four sons to Dr. Douglas Charles Thomas Coupland, a medic in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and homemaker C...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=18949879 ... Read more