X-Book

Despots

Click Buy to Log in and see personalised pricing.

Send as a gift Get in the xigxag app

Listen to a sample

What to expect

A razor-sharp analysis of the increasing – and terrifying – parallels between Trump’s America and Putin’s Russia, from the former BBC Moscow Correspondent and Sunday Times bestselling author Martin Sixsmith.

Long Live the King.


Since his re-election as US president, Donald Trump has made good on things he only dreamed of accomplishing in his first term. He has smashed constitutional constraints, trampled on free speech, suborned the judiciary, demonised the media and crushed protests on the streets. He has secured the backing of America’s oligarchs by the offer of mutual enrichment and inflated his personal wealth by flouting ethical standards. US foreign policy is no longer based on values but on greed, while at home the White House has intervened in almost every area of people’s lives, sending the National Guard into America’s cities, telling educators what schoolchildren should be taught and threatening universities when they beg to differ.

According to Martin Sixsmith, the BBC’s long-serving former Moscow and Washington Correspondent, it is all eerily familiar from what Russia went through in the early-2000s.

Despots is Sixsmith's account of how two aspiring dictators came to power in nominally electoral democracies then dismantled the pillars of democracy from within, one following confidently in the footsteps of the other. As in Putin's Russia, so in Trump's America: the US is fast-forwarding through what Russia endured in the first five years under Putin, and the parallels this time are much clearer, more overt and increasingly terrifying

"Gripping, terrifying, urgent, necessary." - Ian Rankin

"Anyone who cares for democracy and freedom, and who fears for the future of both, should go and read this book." - Jonathan Dimbleby

© Martin Sixsmith and Daniel Sixsmith 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Author Martin Sixsmith with Daniel Sixsmith
Narrator Jonathan Keeble
Duration 6 hours and 34 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529991147
Format Audiobook
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Genre Corruption in politics, government and society, Geopolitics, Political leaders and leadership, Political structures: totalitarianism and dictatorship
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.