Muammar Gaddafi: Leader of the Libyans

For forty-two years, Muammar Gaddafi was Libya, and Libya was Gaddafi. This definitive biography traces the full, tumultuous arc of his life, from a Bedouin boy born in a desert tent to the revolutionary colonel who overthrew a monarchy and remade a nation in his own image. It delves deep into his unique political philosophy as outlined in The Green Book and the creation of the Jamahiriya—the "state of the masses" that promised direct democracy but delivered absolute power into the hands of one man, his family, and his feared Revolutionary Committees. From his grand ambitions of Pan-Arab unity to his reinvention as the "King of Kings of Africa," the book unravels the enigma of a man who was seen as both a liberator and a tyrant.
The narrative chronicles Gaddafi's explosive impact on the world stage, where he wielded Libya's immense oil wealth to fund both staggering engineering feats like the Great Man-Made River and a global network of militant groups. It details his decades of conflict with the West, from the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie to his surprising rehabilitation as a partner in the "War on Terror." Finally, it provides a gripping account of his downfall during the Arab Spring—the popular uprising, the NATO intervention that turned the tide against him, his final days as a fugitive, and his violent death at the hands of rebel fighters. This sweeping history concludes with the devastating power vacuum and chaotic civil war left in his wake, a legacy of division that continues to haunt Libya today.