Personality and PowerBy: Ian Kershaw One of the great historians of our age asks: how far can a single leader alter the course of history? The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the