Foreword Prologue: Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris 1. Utopian Radicalism and Dehumanization 2. Diabolical Pedagogy and the (Il)logic of Stalinism 3. Lenin's Century: Bolshevism, Marxism, and the Russian Tradition 4. Dialectics of Disenchantment: Marxism and Ideological Decay in Leninist Regimes 5. Ideology, Utopia, and Truth: Lessons from Eastern Europe 6. Malaise and Resentment: Threats to Democracy in Post-Communist Societies Conclusions Notes Index
Vladimir Tismaneanu is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of several books, including Stalinism for All Seasons: A History of Romanian Communism (UC Press), Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, Nationalism and Myth in Post-Communist Europe, and Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel.
"[A] fine and undoubtedly enduring study. This affinity of Leninism
with Nazism is the argument of Tismaneanu’s book. It is a claim
that since 1945, and particularly the Cold War, has generated much
controversy. A distinguished book."
*New York Review of Books*
“This volume achieves the rare distinction of being at once nuanced
and impassioned. It is likely to remain a durable contribution to a
deeper understanding of the great historical outrages of the past
century which were closely linked to the concept and reality of
totalitarianism.”
*New Criterion*
“An ambitious and challenging rereading of twentieth-century
history.”
*Times Literary Supplement*
“The parallels between communism and fascism have often been noted,
fueling endless debates over whether the movements were
fundamentally similar or different. The Devil in History . . .
presents a genuinely fresh perspective on this topic.”
*Foreign Affairs*
"A fascinating, brilliant and captivating book. It is a stupendous
achievement."
*FrontPage Magazine*
"The book offers a fascinating read with an incredible wealth of
bibliographic sources that will benefit all those interested in the
topic. The author has succeeded in giving not only a solid account
of the spirituality and history of communist and fascist regimes,
but also an outstanding testimony of liberal political and
normative thinking."
*Cambridge Review of International Affairs*
"Vladimir Tismaneanu is the perfect political analyst for today,
for he is an expert on both the legacies of Nazism and Communism.
In spite of optimistic diagnoses and rampant wishful thinking,
these two pathologies are not dead. Vladimir Tismaneanu’s
illuminating book is an antidote against new experiments in utopian
radicalism and social engineering."
*WND*
"Many books have been written about the similarities and
differences between communism and fascism, both in theory and
practice. None, however, matches the insight, analysis, and deep
thought found in The Devil in History."
*Weekly Standard*
"The account provided is particularly strong on separating the
critical paradigms of Marxism that emerged in East and West. . . .
Getting the record straight here is important and challenges any
simplistic notion of Eastern Europe’s conversion to
liberalism."
*American Historical Review*
"Tismaneanu seeks to fulfill the ancient Jewish commandment of
remembering and reminding, zachor, lest we forget and it may
return. . . . [the book] argues convincingly that a reckoning with
the past can be both exorcism and therapy, and insists that there
should be no silence or thick line separating the present from the
embarrassing past."
*Perspectives on Politics*
"A fine book"
*National Review*
“Tismaneanu's real concern is to examine what he calls the
‘maximalist utopian aspirations’ expressed by communist and fascist
regimes in Europe to try to understand how it is that systems that
set out with a utopian agenda—world revolution or national
rebirth—end up constructing murderous dystopias. . . . The core of
this perceptive and intelligent analysis is addressed to the more
troubling question of how they were possible at all.”
*Times Higher Education*
“At a time when liberal values are showing their frailty and
salvationist mythologies are returning to favour in different
places, an absorbing comparative essay is provided on the origins,
ravages and ultimate failure of the radical totalitarian movements
of the last century: communism and fascism. Vladimir Tismaneanu is
an appropriate guide, a polymath steeped in the philosophical,
literary and social science texts spawned by defenders, apostates
and analysts of this phenomenon.”
*International Affairs*
“Mr. Tismaneanu has produced a definitive account of the origins,
the appeal, the doctrinal foundations and the political technology
of history's two bloodiest political faiths, which, unlike other
tyrannies, sought not only to control politics and the economy but
to establish permanent state ownership of truth and morality. . . .
A powerful indictment of the twin 'utopias in power,' as well as a
paean to those who resisted them, this profound and rich book is
also a cautionary tale.”
*Wall Street Journal*
“Tismaneanu’s lucid narrative walks us through an intellectual
landscape that traces the trajectory of totalitarian thinking back
to its origins. . . . a chilling analysis of a century where
mankind aimed to reach the promised land through the power of
ideas. It shows that thinking of politics as a simple scientific
formula that could be solved, once it was followed to its logical
conclusion, seriously underestimates the complexities of the human
condition.”
*Daily Beast*
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