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A review by scribepub
Rodrigo Duterte: Fire and Fury in the Philippines by Jonathan Miller
“Fire and fury” is the mentality of despots everywhere. Miller has terrifyingly captured that condition — bullying, threatening, vengeful, and lethal.
Michael Wolff, Author of Fire and Fury
This book will piss off the powerful, which is why you should read it … With unflinching prose and the rigour of a veteran journalist, Jonathan Miller disrobes Rodrigo Duterte for all to see. Beyond the myths and propaganda of [Duterte’s] supporters, the Filipino politician is here paraded nakedly, with his contradicting good intentions that involve bloody violence, broken promises, and the brazen perpetuation of dynastic patronage politics that continue to dismantle Asia’s oldest free republic … This portrait presents a cautionary tale of the kind of authoritarian rulers that stand to hijack any democracy if we citizens do not participate in protecting it while we still can.
Miguel Syjuco, Author of Ilustrado
Miller's fast-paced, lively narrative helps explain how an electoral insurgency led by a charismatic populist … has put the Philippines on the road to authoritarian rule.
Walden Bello, Former Philippine Congressman (2009-15)
An invaluable portrait … it deftly weaves Duterte’s rise with the country’s history of living through dictatorship and nearly making it across the line where some degree of economic prosperity and political maturity was making a dent on social inequality and impunity — before being rudely and brutally thrown into the mass grave that it has turned into.
Ruben Carranza, Filipino Lawyer
This story jumps out of the pages like a thriller. But it’s all true. [Rodrigo Duterte] makes Trump look tame.
Hamish MacDonald
Jonathan Miller has lifted the lid on a viper’s nest. [Rodrigo Duterte] is a terrifying insight into the abuse of democracy, and how we the people allow justice to die.
Andrew O’Keefe AM, Seven Network
Rodrigo Duterte has been labelled by the US media “the Donald Trump of Asia” … Miller talks to relatives of murdered drug users and, in unsettling detail, tells of children as young as five being caught in the savage crossfire.
Sunday Territorian, Four Stars
This book lays it all out in shocking colour.
The Saturday Paper
Among the most skilled and lyrical correspondents that I know: Miller describes the grim actions of one of the most infernal leaders of the 21st Century. A shocking book — but one that demands to be read.
Jon Snow
Duterte Harry deftly guides readers through this warped political landscape to reveal the vulnerability of a tempestuous leader.
Economist
Jonathan Miller, a correspondent for Channel 4 News, paints a shocking portrait in stark language of the man known as ‘Duterte Harry’ after Clint Eastwood’s uncompromising ‘Dirty Harry’ Callahan. The most striking aspect of Miller’s detailed biography, which draws on interviews with Duterte’s family and friends, is how proud many Filipinos are of their maligning and murderous chief executive.
Time Literary Supplement
[Rodrigo Harry] captures the strongman leader in all his contradictions.
Reuters
Jonathan Miller … skilfully weaves in fear, shock and pain, including meeting those on the hit list and those left behind.
Jim Robinson, North and South
[A] deeply reported, vivid foreign correspondent’s account of the man’s rise to power.
John Reed, Financial Times
This study of the foul-mouthed ‘gangster’ by a writer who’s lived in the country for yonks is a real eye-opener.
The Sunday Sport
Miller’s is perhaps the most comprehensive biography of Duterte yet, exploring the unique circumstances that moulded the leader’s psyche, his style of leadership and, later in life, his rise to the presidency.
Richard Javad Heydarian, Mekong Review
Miller, a correspondent for Britain’s Channel 4 news, bases his account on extensive reporting, placing the reader up close as Duterte’s manic and macho personality plunges the Philippines into perpetual civil conflict.
Joshua Kurlantzick, Washington Monthly
Michael Wolff, Author of Fire and Fury
This book will piss off the powerful, which is why you should read it … With unflinching prose and the rigour of a veteran journalist, Jonathan Miller disrobes Rodrigo Duterte for all to see. Beyond the myths and propaganda of [Duterte’s] supporters, the Filipino politician is here paraded nakedly, with his contradicting good intentions that involve bloody violence, broken promises, and the brazen perpetuation of dynastic patronage politics that continue to dismantle Asia’s oldest free republic … This portrait presents a cautionary tale of the kind of authoritarian rulers that stand to hijack any democracy if we citizens do not participate in protecting it while we still can.
Miguel Syjuco, Author of Ilustrado
Miller's fast-paced, lively narrative helps explain how an electoral insurgency led by a charismatic populist … has put the Philippines on the road to authoritarian rule.
Walden Bello, Former Philippine Congressman (2009-15)
An invaluable portrait … it deftly weaves Duterte’s rise with the country’s history of living through dictatorship and nearly making it across the line where some degree of economic prosperity and political maturity was making a dent on social inequality and impunity — before being rudely and brutally thrown into the mass grave that it has turned into.
Ruben Carranza, Filipino Lawyer
This story jumps out of the pages like a thriller. But it’s all true. [Rodrigo Duterte] makes Trump look tame.
Hamish MacDonald
Jonathan Miller has lifted the lid on a viper’s nest. [Rodrigo Duterte] is a terrifying insight into the abuse of democracy, and how we the people allow justice to die.
Andrew O’Keefe AM, Seven Network
Rodrigo Duterte has been labelled by the US media “the Donald Trump of Asia” … Miller talks to relatives of murdered drug users and, in unsettling detail, tells of children as young as five being caught in the savage crossfire.
Sunday Territorian, Four Stars
This book lays it all out in shocking colour.
The Saturday Paper
Among the most skilled and lyrical correspondents that I know: Miller describes the grim actions of one of the most infernal leaders of the 21st Century. A shocking book — but one that demands to be read.
Jon Snow
Duterte Harry deftly guides readers through this warped political landscape to reveal the vulnerability of a tempestuous leader.
Economist
Jonathan Miller, a correspondent for Channel 4 News, paints a shocking portrait in stark language of the man known as ‘Duterte Harry’ after Clint Eastwood’s uncompromising ‘Dirty Harry’ Callahan. The most striking aspect of Miller’s detailed biography, which draws on interviews with Duterte’s family and friends, is how proud many Filipinos are of their maligning and murderous chief executive.
Time Literary Supplement
[Rodrigo Harry] captures the strongman leader in all his contradictions.
Reuters
Jonathan Miller … skilfully weaves in fear, shock and pain, including meeting those on the hit list and those left behind.
Jim Robinson, North and South
[A] deeply reported, vivid foreign correspondent’s account of the man’s rise to power.
John Reed, Financial Times
This study of the foul-mouthed ‘gangster’ by a writer who’s lived in the country for yonks is a real eye-opener.
The Sunday Sport
Miller’s is perhaps the most comprehensive biography of Duterte yet, exploring the unique circumstances that moulded the leader’s psyche, his style of leadership and, later in life, his rise to the presidency.
Richard Javad Heydarian, Mekong Review
Miller, a correspondent for Britain’s Channel 4 news, bases his account on extensive reporting, placing the reader up close as Duterte’s manic and macho personality plunges the Philippines into perpetual civil conflict.
Joshua Kurlantzick, Washington Monthly