Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War

Rees, Laurence

ISBN 10: 0241422671 / ISBN 13: 9780241422670

Published by Viking, London, 2020

About this Item

Feels unread. A comparative study of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and their roles in shaping the Second World War. Laurence Rees examines their personalities, leadership methods and brutal regimes, exploring both the similarities and differences between the two dictators. Drawing on historical research and eyewitness testimony, the book considers their decisions, relationships with subordinates and responsibility for mass suffering, while examining how their actions and ideologies influenced the course and outcome of the war.

Seller Inventory # 052287

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War
• Publisher: Viking, London
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241422671
• ISBN 13: 9780241422670
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography
  • History
  • Military

About this title

Synopsis

This compelling book on Hitler and Stalin - the culmination of thirty years' work - examines the two tyrants during the Second World War, when Germany and the Soviet Union fought the biggest and bloodiest war in history. Yet despite the fact they were bitter opponents, Laurence Rees shows that Hitler and Stalin were, to a large extent, different sides of the same coin.

Hitler's charismatic leadership may contrast with Stalin's regimented rule by fear; and his intransigence later in the war may contrast with Stalin's change in behaviour in response to events. But at a macro level, both were prepared to create undreamt of suffering, destroy individual liberty and twist facts in order to build the Utopia they wanted, and while Hitler's creation of the Holocaust remains a singular crime, Rees shows why we must not forget that Stalin committed a series of atrocities at the same time.

Using previously unpublished, startling eyewitness testimony from soldiers of the Red Army and Wehrmacht, civilians who suffered during the conflict, and those who knew both men personally, bestselling historian Laurence Rees - probably the only person alive who has met Germans who worked for Hitler and Russians who worked for Stalin - challenges long-held popular misconceptions about two of the most important figures in history. This is a masterwork from one of our finest historians.