Delusions of a Dictator: The Mind of Marcos As Revealed in His Secret Diaries

Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines kept a private daily journal of his second presidential term. When it began in 1969 he was at the height of his power, but students, intellectuals and the news media united against him, calling his politics and ethics suspect, his regime corrupt. His diaries reflect his confusion at the decline in his fortunes; his growing conviction, verging on clinical paranoia, that all around him were enemies; his elaborate rationalization of his dictatorship; his continual scheming; and his willingness to resort to violence, including assassination. The author of this book, a Los Angeles journalist, has had access to Marcos's diaries, and provides an account of a mind obsessed with power and a portrait of the collapse of a national leader and the government he ruled.