Several distinguished historians present the first comprehensive comparison of Nazism and Stalinism.An internationally distinguished team of historians of Nazism and Stalinism provide a summary of the most up-to-date research and offer new perspectives on issues linking the two most terrible dictatorships of modernity. Three selected themes are explored: the leadership cults of Hitler and Stalin; the 'war machines' engaged in the deadly clash of 1941 to 1945; and the ways in which interpretations of the past have shifted in Germany and Russia since the demise of the dictatorships.An internationally distinguished team of historians of Nazism and Stalinism provide a summary of the most up-to-date research and offer new perspectives on issues linking the two most terrible dictatorships of modernity. Three selected themes are explored: the leadership cults of Hitler and Stalin; the 'war machines' engaged in the deadly clash of 1941 to 1945; and the ways in which interpretations of the past have shifted in Germany and Russia since the demise of the dictatorships.An internationally distinguished team of historians of Nazism and Stalinism provide a summary of the most up-to-date research and offer new perspectives on issues linking the two most terrible dictatorships of modernity. Three selected themes are explored: the leadership cults of Hitler and Stalin; the war machines engaged in the deadly clash of 1941 to 1945; and the ways in which interpretations of the past have shifted in Germany and Russia since the demise of the dictatorships.Preface; Introduction: the regimes and their dictators: perspectives of comparison; Part I. The Two Dictatorships: 1. Stalin and his Stalinism: power and authority in the Soviet Union 19301953 Ronal Suny; 2. Bureaucracy and the Stalinist state Moshe Lewin; 3. Cumulative radicalisation and progressive self-destruction: structural determinants of the Nazi dictatorship Hans Mommsen; 4. 'Working towards the F?hrer': reflections on the natl³>