Book Review of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us by Brian Klaas

With a deft literary hand, Klaas describes how positions that offer power and wealth incentives attract the wrong kind of people, through titles like “How Our Shoulders Shaped Society” and a series of stories – about the tyrannical leader of a landlord. association, a “master janitor”, a “cannibal emperor” and the M113 armored personnel carrier of the Police Department, Ga., Doraville. His warnings would have been more worrisome if they hadn’t been given with such caution. Being entertained like that, we might not see the fact that police agencies have recruitment ads featuring military tanks and violent SWAT teams, and presidential roles with low oversight and ability difficult procurement contracts for family members, will attract the kind of people expected to the recruitment team. Meanwhile, although narcissistic psychopaths are rare, they are attracted to power and are adept at using charisma, manipulation, and intimidation to get it. Thus, they are over-represented in leadership positions.