From Pilate's basin to Mussolini's balcony to the yank of a Trump handshake, political power has always been transmitted through the hands. Hands of State is a global anatomy of the gestures that signal, perform, and engineer authority — the handshake, the salute, the royal wave, the lectern grip, the Merkel diamond, the pinched precision of an Obama speech, and the missing handshake that became more famous than any that occurred. Across thirty chapters, Byron Crowe examines how leaders, dictators, queens, and protesters have used their hands to command attention — and how the camera changed everything.
