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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5
EAN: 9781400032136
Edition: Reprint
ISBN: 140003213X
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 752
Publication Date: August 12, 2008
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: August 12, 2008
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A bold new accounting of the great social and political upheavals that enveloped Europe between 1914 and 1945—from the Russian Revolution through the Second World War.
In Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, acclaimed historian Robert Gellately focuses on the dominant powers of the time, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, but also analyzes the catastrophe of those years in an effort to uncover its political and ideological nature. Arguing that the tragedies endured by Europe were inextricably linked through the dictatorships of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, Gellately explains how the pursuit of their “utopian” ideals turned into dystopian nightmares. Dismantling the myth of Lenin as a relatively benevolent precursor to Hitler and Stalin and contrasting the divergent ways that Hitler and Stalin achieved their calamitous goals, Gellately creates in Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler a vital analysis of a critical period in modern history.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Interesting read if you're a history buff. You'll have to focus, book is hard to follow at times. Book would have benefited from additional footnoting for those that are interested in researching various facts and assertions.
Rating:  -
It's ashame that people have such a short memory even while reading the book. No-one knew the full story behind communist Russia or communist Germany pre 1989. It takes someone who has to research these mountains of undisclosed documents and never reviewed by the free world to put the true story into better perspective. It's ashamed that the US had to actually choose the lesser of the 2 evils and have them pull us out of the great depression knowing what we know now.
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The Central thesis of Robert Gellately's work "Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe", is that the advent of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party to power in Russia in 1917 directly led to the nightmare societies of Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1920s, '30s, and beyond. Gellately expertly makes the case that Stalin was the logical successor to Lenin, and dismisses the notion that Lenin's ideas, while flawed, were noble and ultimately corrupted by Stalin. It was Lenin who created the atmosphere of paranoia and fear in the Soviet State, it was Lenin who created the concentration camp system, it was Lenin who created the secret police- all in the name of protecting the Revolution. Stalin's excesses in the 1930s only built upon those of his predecessor. Hitler's National Socialist movement in Germany was a mirror image of the Soviet Union and also followed Lenin's example in creating a hardened police state. Gellately's thesis is bold and stands as a winning testament against many who still hold to the view that Lenin was simply a naive idealist who let the Revolution get out of his control. This book is must reading for any student of Modern European History.
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An in depth description of the fascist and communists states and how they came to be with a special focus on the men who lead them.
Rating: -
This book is phenomenal because it shatters the commonly held belief that Lenin was really trying to build a communist utopia, and Stalin hijacked it when he died by murdering millions. The real truth is that Lenin was just as brutal a thug as Stalin, perhaps even more so. It shows the use of propaganda and class warfare tactics by Hitler, Lenin and Stalin that can still be seen used today (remember those greedy fatcat AIG execs?). The author does what few in-depth history books do: pack a tremendous amount of information without bogging down the readability. If you are looking for a book that shows how these three tyrants grabbed power, and how their tactics are frequently used today to manipulate the masses, then this book is without peer.
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