For the Tyrant Who Has Everything

David Weigel | November 21, 2007

A great gallery over at Esquire: the chitzy Seven Wonders of the Totalitarian World.

While last month's election of the New Seven Wonders of the World hints at this point—the emperors who fed Christians to the lions in the Roman Coliseum were neither mild-mannered nor impoverished—they're basically positive tributes to mankind's triumphant, enduring half. But what of the tyranny that drove men to produce such wonders? On some level, each of the New Seven is also a colossal monument to narcissism, either some ruler or some culture's desire to go bigger and leave a mark that cannot be erased—a sentiment not unlike the one held by some of today's most ruthless dictators.

None of the monuments are mind-bogglingly huge, but with craftsmanship like you'll find in "Fist Crushing U.S. Fighter Plane," who cares?

Via Steve Sailer, who nominates a dark horse: the North Korean Hotel of Doom.