Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I haven't been able to find the new edition, but I've read the first edition very thoroughly. If you read only one book about the last century, this would be it.If Bullock will continue to revise in the future, I have two suggestions. Write more about Stalin (to make this book more balanced) and add Mao to the mix. There are very interesting parallels - both similarities and contrasts - among this most unholy trinity of dictators.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I haven't been able to find the new edition, but I've read the first edition very thoroughly. If you read only one book about the last century, this would be it. If Bullock will continue to revise in the future, I have two suggestions. Write more about Stalin (to make this book more balanced) and add Mao to the mix. There are very interesting parallels - both similarities and contrasts - among this most unholy trinity of dictators.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterwork of Historical Writing
Review: In this massive work of nearly a thousand pages, Bullock does far more than reveal the lives of the two great dictators. Their histories are so well placed in the broad context of other events that the book also serves as an overview of the first half of the twentieth century in Eurasia. Bullock does an admirable job of balancing broader issues with illuminating detail. His writing is clear and his judgements are well-founded. One wishes that all historians would write with such mature perspective.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterwork of Historical Writing
Review: In this massive work of nearly a thousand pages, Bullock does far more than reveal the lives of the two great dictators. Their histories are so well placed in the broad context of other events that the book also serves as an overview of the first half of the twentieth century in Eurasia. Bullock does an admirable job of balancing broader issues with illuminating detail. His writing is clear and his judgements are well-founded. One wishes that all historians would write with such mature perspective.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible experience...worth the effort
Review: It is difficult to describe Alan Bullock's fantastic dual-biography of Hitler and Stalin, and others have done much better here than I could. Allow me to add their voices to theirs in praise of this work. Bullock not only manages to convey the terrible sweep of history of the first half of the 20th Century and the impact of these two monsters of history, but does so in a very readable style. I marvel that a book of nearly 1000 pages, many of them filled with either terrible stories of oppression and horror, or else mindnumbing (but critical) economic statistics, can hold one's interest enough from start to finish. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible experience...worth the effort
Review: It is difficult to describe Alan Bullock's fantastic dual-biography of Hitler and Stalin, and others have done much better here than I could. Allow me to add their voices to theirs in praise of this work. Bullock not only manages to convey the terrible sweep of history of the first half of the 20th Century and the impact of these two monsters of history, but does so in a very readable style. I marvel that a book of nearly 1000 pages, many of them filled with either terrible stories of oppression and horror, or else mindnumbing (but critical) economic statistics, can hold one's interest enough from start to finish. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Somber
Review: It's a sad fact that Hitler and Stalin probably had more influence on the history of the twentieth century than any other two individuals. Each was responsible for unleashing monumental evil that left tens of millions dead in its wake and had a profound impact on geo-political events for the remainder of the century. Bullock's brilliant and somber comparative biography charts the lives of Hitler and Stalin, stopping along the way to compare and contrast their personalities, their philosophy and goals, and the strategies and tactics they used to gain and maintain power. Both shared a consistency of purpose, a total disregard for the human suffering they unleashed and a proclivity to blame others for their own mistakes. Both suffered from paranoia, although for Stalin it was a systemic condition, while in Hitler's case, the paranoia grew in intensity as his empire crumbled around him. Both had a grasp of detail that would astound and disarm their opponents. Both maintained power by using the machinery of terror to crush opponents. But there were also deep differences between the ways in which the two men operated. Stalin owed his rise to power to astute political maneuvering and a mastery over the internal bureaucracy and decision-making apparatus of the Bolshevik party. The man defined the word crafty. Bullock documents how over a number of years Stalin systematically out maneuvered, isolated, and then removed anyone that his feverish imagination deemed to be a potential challenger - which in Stalin's case could be virtually anyone. He showed loyalty to no one but himself, and frequently had former friends and loyal subordinates alike executed because he saw them as a threat. Stalin's leadership style was one of centralization, which when coupled with a phenomenal memory, a grasp of detail, and control over the machinery of terror, allowed him to reshape the Soviet empire in his own image. In contrast, Hitler's had no patience for administration and willingly delegated power over the management of government bureaucracy to his long time political lieutenants, such as Goring and Goebbels. While Stalin was an average public speaker, Hitler's power came from his brilliance as a speaker which magnified a demonically charismatic persona. While Stalin was a workaholic, Hitler's work habits were lax. While Stalin was careful, slowly accumulating power and avoiding direct conflict with his opponents until the ground had been well prepared, Hitler was a risk taker, a consummate military and political gambler with a taste for bold moves. For a long time, it was Hitler's very boldness that disarmed and defeated his opponents, but in the end, his biggest gamble of all, going to war with Stalin's Soviet empire, was to prove his undoing. Yet as Bullock makes clear, in Hitler mind there was little choice in this matter. Hitler saw war with Russia as inevitable, his destiny; the timing was the only thing at issue, and in the end he saw little choice there too. One of the great paradoxes of Hitler's life is that the man made history, but the forces of history he unleashed and his own internal sense of destiny shaped his actions and trapped him into pursuing a course of action that was to bring about his demise. Bullock's grasp of both the broad sweep of twentieth century history, and the details of Hitler and Stalin's lives and personas is nothing short of remarkable. This vast book represents historical writing at its very best. Once the reader embarks upon the journey Bullock has charted out, the book is impossible to put down. What Bullock does better than anyone else is to map out how these two evil men, individuals who in another time and place would have warranted a footnote in history at best, were able to seize control of two great countries and bend them to their own purpose. This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand how it is that the will of the masses can be manipulated and controlled by unscrupulous and evil politicians.
Rating:
Summary: just the rise and fall can beat this one
Review: outstanding. heavy reading indicated for die hard fans of the topic/period only. Don't buy the book unless you're really sure what is it for. Too lengthy, but worth your time. Perfect for the lousy winter in Iowa.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting way to look at these monsters
Review: This book details the lives of two profoundly evil individuals, Stalin and Hitler. Both men seemed off to a good start, one in the war and as an artist and the other in the seminary. Yet other issues dominated the childhood of these men that forced them into extremist polituics and eventually led them to mass murder. Both were phenomenal politicians and able to lure their own collaborators to their doom. An interesting way to present these two, by comparing and contrasting these similar lives that led too very different outcomes. Now the writing itself is commendable and so are the parralells. But the author should have written two biographies. The only redemption this book has is that it shows how right wing facism is exactly the same as left wing liberalism(Communbism to be exact in this case). Stalin and Hitler allthough they prported themselves to be on diffrent wings of the political spectrum were both monsters who crushed minorities and enslaved their own people. They became allies in 1939 and the world shuddered with what these beasts could accomplish together, luckily for all of us Stalin and Hitler wasted the enslaved masses of their nations destorying eachother. All the better for the Americans to pick up the pieces. I would recommend Conquests' "Stalin breaker of Nations" and Kershaws two volume work on Hitler "Hubris" and "Nemisis".
Rating:
Summary: interesting way to look at these monsters
Review: This book details the lives of two profoundly evil individuals, Stalin and Hitler. Both men seemed off to a good start, one in the war and as an artist and the other in the seminary. Yet other issues dominated the childhood of these men that forced them into extremist polituics and eventually led them to mass murder. Both were phenomenal politicians and able to lure their own collaborators to their doom. An interesting way to present these two, by comparing and contrasting these similar lives that led too very different outcomes. Now the writing itself is commendable and so are the parralells. But the author should have written two biographies. The only redemption this book has is that it shows how right wing facism is exactly the same as left wing liberalism(Communbism to be exact in this case). Stalin and Hitler allthough they prported themselves to be on diffrent wings of the political spectrum were both monsters who crushed minorities and enslaved their own people. They became allies in 1939 and the world shuddered with what these beasts could accomplish together, luckily for all of us Stalin and Hitler wasted the enslaved masses of their nations destorying eachother. All the better for the Americans to pick up the pieces. I would recommend Conquests' "Stalin breaker of Nations" and Kershaws two volume work on Hitler "Hubris" and "Nemisis".
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