Randall Wood (Nicaragua 1998-00) Publishes The Dictator's Handbook

Randall Wood (Nicaragua 1998-’00) is an engineer, author, teacher and author of two books, Moon Nicaragua (a best-selling travel guidebook to Nicaragua) and Living Abroad in Nicaragua.

Randy and his Nicaraguan wife Ericka and their two children live today in Dakar, Senegal where he works for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, thought he is still president of the Amigos de Nicaragua RPCV group and in many ways he will never leave Central America.

He wrote me recently about his new book, The Dictator’s Handbook: a practical manual for the aspiring tyrant, “I wanted to dedicate the book to Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega because watching that guy in action really nailed down the difficulty of helping poor people when their government is doing everything in its power to prevent it,” he said. “Studying Ortega and then other dictators made clear these clowns are all doing the same things – subverting the constitution, dividing the opposition, bankrolling millions while trotting out the poor before the donors to solicit project funding. I began thinking there must certainly be a practical manual they are all using. And now there is. Fortunately, Ericka talked some sense into me and the book is dedicated to my children, instead. But the book remains a practical manual for the aspiring tyrant.”

Writing this book has consumed Randy over the past three years. It is 320 pages long, with 500 bibliographic references, 100 footnotes, and a full index. It is both a paperback and an ebook. The book purports to be the instruction manual tyrants, despots, and dictators have been using since time eternal to seize power, divide the opposition, steal elections, make a million bucks, install a successor, and die a legend.  Much of the book is based on Randy’s experiences of living and working overseas.  He has been everywhere and done everything. He is the real thing.

You can check out and buy his book at: http://dictatorshandbook.net

Randy’s website is: www.therandymon.com.