‘You have to read it’ Volodymyr Zelensky

‘Laurence Rees brilliantly combines powerful eye-witness testimony, vivid narrative and compelling analysis in this superb account’ Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: Hubris and Hitler: Nemesis

‘In this fascinating study of two monsters, Rees is extraordinarily perceptive and original’ Antony Beevor
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Two tyrants. Each responsible for the death of millions.

This compelling book on Hitler and Stalin – the culmination of thirty years’ work – examines the two leaders during the Second World War, when Germany and the Soviet Union fought the biggest and bloodiest war in history.

Hitler’s charismatic leadership may contrast with Stalin’s regimented rule by fear; and his intransigence later in the war may contrast with Stalin’s change in behaviour in response to events. But as bestselling historian Laurence Rees shows, at a macro level, both were prepared to create undreamt-of suffering – in Hitler’s case, most infamously the Holocaust – in order to build the utopias they wanted.

Using previously unpublished, startling eyewitness testimony from soldiers, civilians and those who knew both men personally, Laurence Rees – probably the only person alive who has met Germans who worked for Hitler and Russians who worked for Stalin – challenges long-held popular misconceptions about two of the most important figures in history. This is a master work from one of our finest historians.
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‘Coming from one of the world’s experts on the Second World War, this is an important and original – and devastating – account of Hitler and Stalin as dictators. A must read’ Professor Robert Service, author of Stalin: A Biography

‘Impressive . . . well paced and well informed with an eye for telling anecdotes and colourful character sketches . . . Rees’ decision to add personal stories to his narrative adds an important layer to our understanding of both the dictators themselves and their victims’ Robert Gerwarth, The Daily Telegraph

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A magisterial, one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present, Ancient Athens to modern democracy – from author and professor Alan Ryan

This is a book about the answers that historians, philosophers, theologians, practising politicians and would-be revolutionaries have given to one question: how should human beings best govern themselves?

Almost every modern government claims to be democratic; but is democracy really the best way of organising our political life? Can we manage our own affairs at all? Should we even try? In the west, do we actually live in democracies? In this extraordinary book Alan Ryan engages with the great thinkers of the past to show us how vividly their ideas speak to us in today’s uncertain world.

ALAN RYAN was born in London in 1940 and taught for many years at Oxford, where he was a Fellow of New College and Reader in Politics. He was Professor of Politics at Princeton from 1988 to 1996, when he returned to Oxford to become Warden of New College and Professor of Political Theory until his retirement in 2009. His previous books include The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell: A Political Life and John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews of On Politics:

‘An engaging and smart survey of major political thinkers … Through Ryan [they] speak directly to the present’ Mark Mazower, Prospect

‘Ryan’s book is a magnificent piece of work, clear (even when the ideas he’s exploring are obscure) and engaging (even when the theory in the original is forbidding) … anyone remotely interested in political theory will profit from reading or dipping into Ryan’s On Politics, whether this is their first acquaintance with the canon of political theory or whether they have been “Hobbing and Locking” for decades … It’s a remarkable experience’ Jeremy Waldron, New York Review of Books

‘Ambitiously and elegantly covers two and a half millennia of political thinking … despite covering huge intellectual terrain, [On Politics] a delight both when it explores detail and also when it draws conclusions of a broader perspective’ Justin Champion, BBC History Magazine

‘On Politics is crammed with smart observations and wise advice’ John Keane, Financial Times

‘An impressive achievement’ Economist

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