What is it like to be the son or daughter of an absolute and ruthless dictator? To bear a name – Stalin or Mussolini, Mao or Ceausescu, Qaddafi or Hussein – that’s synonymous with oppression, terror, and evil?

In a discussion of his new book, Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators, author Jay Nordlinger speaks with Library Director Crosby Kemper III about the offspring of 20 of the world’s most notorious despots.

How did the kids turn out? Some, like jazz pianist, painter, and film producer Romano Mussolini, stepped out of their fathers’ long shadows. Others such as Nicu Ceausescu and Uday and Qusay Hussein embraced their heritage all too fully.

“Many of the sons and daughters are both victimizers and victims,” says Nordlinger, a senior editor at National Review. “Dictators create all sorts of wreckage.”