Books like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler by Robert Gellately

Ian Kershaw's Hitler offers an intimate and compelling biography of Adolf Hitler, focusing on his rise to power through vivid descriptions of key events and figures in Germany's history. The author's research is supported by many previously untapped sources, bringing us closer to understanding the mysterious and controversial figure that Hitler was.

Hannah Arendt’s seminal study charts the rise of totalitarianism from 19th‑century anti‑Semitism and European colonialism to the emergence of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, examining propaganda, terror, and mass mobilization.

An in-depth exploration of how Hitler's cult of personality became a crucial element in Nazi politics and propaganda.

Stories of the disastrous blunders of American presidents show readers the inner workings of the White House and how some of our greatest leaders could make decisions that were terribly wrong. The 23 narrative stories, each about 10 pages in length, retell the histories behind bad presidential decisions. They are told in a real time narrative style, bringing readers inside the White House, introducing them to the main characters, exposing why these decisions were made, and describing the ill-fated aftermaths.

This book is a major new biography -- an extraordinary, penetrating study of the man who has become the personification of evil. For all the literature about Adolf Hitler there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler’s childhood to his failures as a young man in Vienna to his experiences during the First World War to his rise as a far-right party leader. Ullrich deftly captures Hitler’s intelligence, instinctive grasp of politics, and gift for oratory as well as his megalomania, deep insecurity, and repulsive worldview. Many previous biographies have focused on the larger social conditions that explain the rise of the Third Reich. Ullrich gives us a comprehensive portrait of a postwar Germany humiliated by defeat, wracked by political crisis, and starved by an economic depression, but his real gift is to show vividly how Hitler used his ruthlessness and political talent to shape the Nazi party and lead it to power. For decades the world has tried to grasp how Hitler was possible. By focusing on the man at the center of it all, on how he experienced his world, formed his political beliefs, and wielded power, this riveting biography brings us closer than ever to the answer. - Publisher.

Half a century after their deaths, the dictatorships of Stalin and Hitler still cast a long and terrible shadow over the modern world. They were the most destructive and lethal regimes in history, murdering millions. They fought the largest and costliest war in all history. Yet millions of Germans and Russians enthusiastically supported them and the values they stood for. In this first major study of the two dictatorships side-by-side Richard Overy sets out to answer the question: How was dictatorship possible? How did they function? What was the bond that tied dictator and people so powerfully together? He paints a remarkable and vivid account of the different ways in which Stalin and Hitler rose to power, and abused and dominated their people. It is a chilling analysis of powerful ideals corrupted by the vanity of ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Ian Kershaw's 'Hitler' offers a new perspective on the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler, providing a detailed account of the man and the events that led to his ascent to power and the subsequent Nazi regime.

This monumental work, complete here in one volume, undertakes to determine scientifically what distinctive personality traits characterize the phenomenon of prejudice. The authors' purpose is to discover the social psychological factors which have made it possible for the authoritarian type of man - a new concept of an "anthropological" species - to threaten the survival of the individualistic and democratic type prevalent in the past century and a half of our civilization. The book mobilizes the skills of the different branches of the social sciences in one common research program. Experts in the fields of social theory and depth psychology, depth analysis, clinical psychology, political sociology and projective testing have pooled their methods and resources. Working in the closest cooperation, they here present a detailed picture of the authoritarian type of man. By isolating the destructive germ of the authoritarian personality, the book lays a major foundation for long-range attack upon the anti-democratic forces in modern society. (from the back cover.)