Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives

the depth of research was amazing . would reommend thid book highly

A history teacher recommended this book to me, and initially I wasn't sure a dual biography, particularly one of this length, would work, but Professor Bullock brings it off masterfully as he weaves together the political careers of Hitler and Stalin. Of course it helped in weaving their careers together that: their dictatorships overlapped significantly, they each had ruthless control of parties that aspired to control every aspect of society, they each singled out "enemies" of the state/party for particularly horrific treatment ("racial" enemies for Hitler, class enemies, e.g., Kulaks, for Stalin), they each viewed the other's country as the ideological enemy, and then they engaged each other in the most terrible war (WW II's eastern front) in human history. And yet while enemies, they seemed to have a grudging admiration for each other. Stalin noted approvingly Hitler's bloody purge of the SA and political enemies in 1934 and followed with his own far more massive purges in 1936-1938; near the end of the war Hitler regretted he hadn't done to his generals what Stalin did to the Red Army officer corps in 1937. And yet they never met each other. This book is for students of Soviet history, Nazi Germany, World War II, and 20th century European history and requires a substantial investment in time as the paperback version has 977 pages of densely-packed prose, but the investment is worth it. Bullock's prose is smooth, and his descriptions at times are haunting, but most important his historical judgement is sober and unerring, or so it would appear to me. Writing in 1991, he had the benefit of decades of previous research to sort out the controversies of WW II, but even at that time the Soviet archives were just being opened so he readily admits that some Stalinist issues and events have not completely been clarified. Besides their similarities as ruthless dictators of totalitarian states with enormous resources under their control, Bullock shows how they exhibited pronounced differences as well. Hitler was a charismatic orator who was very effective in mass meetings while Stalin was an indifferent speaker who was essentially a bureaucrat but a very effective schemer; Hitler was more of a gambler who took great risks (e.g., his remilitarization of the Rhineland when the French Army was still stronger than his rearming Wehrmacht, his invasion of the Soviet Union before he had subdued Britain) while Stalin was more of a calculator and a shrewd evaluator of situations; Hitler, who considered himself an "artist", worked indifferent hours and disdained paperwork while Stalin worked long hours and involved himself in paperwork and details (on one day he and Molotov signed over 4,000 death warrants during the purges). They both were ideologues; Stalin really believed in the tenets of Lenin's Bolshevism (although he killed just about all of Lenin's comrades) and Hitler really believed in the benefits of a "racially purified" German nation. They were completely indifferent to human life. Both Hitler and Stalin ordered their armies, time and again, to defend positions to the last man. Almost unbelieveably, Hitler in his political testament during his last day in the Berlin bunker rued the "fact" that he had been too "kind" as Fuehrer of Germany while Stalin has been quoted as saying that "one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic". Bullock estimates in his final chapter that perhaps 50 million deaths can be attributed to Hitler and Stalin, so that while these monsters may or may not have been the most evil leaders in human history, their undivided command of two powerful countries combined with 20th century technology made their impact on human lives unparalleled.

I used to teach Alan Bullock's "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" in courses about totalitarianism. Contrary to many other college textbooks, which tend to date rather quickly, this history book seems timeless. Bullock offers a monumental social biography of two of the most evil dictators in human history as well as an epic sketch of an era. Although the author specializes in Hitler, his grasp of Stalin is equally impressive. It rivals, in fact, Robert Conquest's "The Great Terror" in its thoroughness and depth. As the title suggests, Bullock alternates chapters on Hitler with those on Stalin. He reveals how each dictator relied on his powers of manipulation, deception and opportunism to rise to power and spread totalitarian regimes meant to wipe out the human spirit and large parts of humanity itself across the world. The book also explains how Hitler and Stalin initially operated within the systems which they later (mis)used for their own selfish and nefarious goals. Whatever their rhetoric and ideology, both sociopathic tyrants ultimately craved power for its own sake, at the expense of everyone else, even the causes (and allies) they initially claimed to support. Bullock's "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" gives us a detailed, compelling and extremely informative portrait of the faces of evil. It is an indispensable book for all those who want to understand how totalitarian regimes function and the role sociopathic dictators play in changing the course of history. As luck would have it, sociopaths are too self-serving and power-hungry to form lasting alliances. Had Hitler and Stalin not turned on each other, totalitarianism might have triumphed across the globe. As Winston Churchill famously stated in a speech after the German invasion of the Soviet Union: "If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons." Claudia Moscovici, [...]

"Hitler and Stalin" places two of history's most destructive figures side by side, telling their stories both individually and (periodically) in comparison. Bullock's technique makes for some mighty interesting reading, with a thorough examination of just how so many people came to their deaths through the whims of two men. Using their political careers as a window into Hitler's and Stalin's personalities, Bullock emerges having drawn a portrait of the similarities and differences between the two men, and how their characters led to the the events that defined their lives. The book also paints the lives of the two men in human and historical terms, making sure to document just how they managed to cause suffering on such a grand scale. From their humble beginnings, Bullock examines how Hitler and Stalin managed to gain positions of absolute power over their respective countries. Stalin is portrayed as an almost shadowy figure, spending his early career lurking in the background behind the public figure of Lenin, waiting his chance while expertly playing the game of power politics. Hitler, on the other hand, is depicted as a gambler, taking chances he wasn't expected to take, attempting to seize power through calculated boldness and his fiery public persona. With both men, however, Bullock stresses how they succeeded by going just a little farther than others, capitalizing on their enemies' perceptions of what they would and would not do. Another comparison Bullock draws between Hitler and Stalin lies in the men's complete lack of anything that could appropriately be described as human feeling or comparison. To both, as Bullock says, other people were simply objects to be manipulated or obstacles to be eliminated. To Stalin the objective was getting and keeping power, to Hilter achieving his wild dreams of a German empire, with neither goal leaving any room for consideration of others. It seems to be this one characteristic, above all others, that Bullock sees as motivating the two dictators' action. The starving of the Russian peasants, the Holocaust, the purges, and the massive suffering of the war are all presented by Bullock as just extensions of Hitler's and Stalin's personal missions. He refers at one point to how casually Stalin was able to send to their deaths men with whom he had long worked, as if it required no more effort than the stroke of his pen. By discussing how easily both Hitler and Stalin brought such suffering upon others, Bullock provides a chilling view of just how inhuman these men were. Bullock tells the tale of these two despicable, yet compelling figures with an expert balance of detatchment and emotion. Although he typically discusses his topic in a very matter-of-fact manner, he will occassionally pause and tell tales of the horrors of collectivization, or the purges, or the Holocaust, bringing an appropriate tone of righteous indignation to these events. Clearly, Bullock's intention in attempting to get inside these men's heads is to expose how truly evil they were, rather than attempt to put down some psychobabble to explain their actions. And one can't help but be moved in his epilogue, where he discusses his experiences in Jerusalem at the Holocaust memorials. If this book has a problem, it's its incredible density, but this is a very minor flaw. 4.5 stars.

THE definitive account of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. This book is a serious read, over 1000 pages, I was assigned to read it in college and I had to buy it and read it a second time; this is the only book you need to read to become an expert at Totalitarianism. How the two clawed their way to absolute power; what they did with it, the sheer scale of atrocity boggles the mind. What I love about this book is it's scholarly; I can't stand preachy books about Hitler and Stalin. I dont need you to tell me someone is "evil", 'diabolical', just tell me what the fudge he did and stop preaching to me. The research is flawless, what struck me was the numbers of the catastrophe that was Soviet Collectivization of agriculture, besides the 6 million dead peasants; Bullock cites the dramatic halving of Soviet Livestock numbers. If Stalin is coming to get your sheep, and you're a poor peasant who ate meat once a month; you might as well eat lamb chops every day until they come and snatch whats left. This book is so necessary because their fates are so tied up against each other, their inevitable brutal clash from 1941-45 is the main event of WW2. Taken alone, the Nazi-Soviet Eastern Front war is THE bloodiest war in human history...the fate of the world really was at stake.

Bullock has the ability to grab the reader and never let her/him go for every page holds gems and nuggets of curiosity that makes this book both a page turner and burn the midnight oil read. If you ever want to read a book on Hitler and Stalin and feel that you don't have neither the historical context within which to view these dictators as well as the facts surrounding their unbelievable lives, then this is the book for you. Well, maybe not "unbelievable" for we are now in the age of Trump. Again and again I found myself scribbling in the margins of this book, "Trump November 8, 2016" and "Make America Great Again", especially in the Hitler chapters. No, Trump is no Hitler for so far the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Judiciary are still intact. So far, their existence are a check on the craziness of Trump. "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" is a book that shows us how these dictators rose to power and gives us insights into how to prevent such catastrophes.

I just finished this 980 page book. From their early lives, their rise to power through manipulative, cynical, and plainly evil means, their unique but similar way of drudging up a class of enemy for their base to blame, be it the kulaks for Stalin or Jews for Hitler, their brutal, dehumanization of mankind whether it be by forced starvation in the case of Stalin or the nightmare machine-like process seen in Hitler's concentration camps resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of people in Europe, one thing is emminently clear: these guys were a couple of jerks!

This book reflects an astounding commitment to the subject and a peerless quality of scholarship. It has more information that any one person can ever hope to retain about the two tyrants who dominated so many crucial events of the fist fifty years of the 20th century. It is not an uplifting book, and its parallel story structure can be awkward at times; in many ways, Stalin and Hitler were not much alike. (I would give it 4.5 stars for that reason alone).But for anyone who wants to dig deep into the characters of these two bullies and self-centered men, whose destructive acts were widely supported for many years by millions of their own citizens, this might be the definitive tome for years to come. But their story and legacy are not happy ones, and their widely-supported crimes do not speak well for mankind.

Good updated version

Everyone should read this book. Great information. Well written. Totally applicable to 2020-2023 and the propaganda used by governments.

Great value for money. Good condition.

Top notch value and outstanding exploration of the mystery of how two monumental monsters were able to rise from almost nothing to the pinnacles of power. An amazing story that everyone should read.

Hitler and Stalin - Parallel Lives by Alan Bullock is a very good book about arguably the two dominant figures in twentieth century history. It is a well-written, informative and on the whole a well structured book. It does not try to make out that one was worse than the other but instead puts them into context and shows that although they rose to power in different ways and believed in different ideologies they both created totalitarian dictatorships which killed millions and subjugated even more. The few slight problems are the fact that at times because of the comparison between two histroical figures of this significance is that it does not focus on certain issues in great depth due to the confines of space. Also because it is a slightly strange structure for a book chronologically it does jump a round a little. As well as this it is also a rather large book and therefore requires a bit of effort to get through. Overall, though it is still a very good book.