Andrew Roberts
Duel of the Despots
The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia
By Richard Overy
Allen Lane The Penguin Press 496pp £25 order from our bookshop
IN A WATCH in the Night, one of A N Wilson's 'Larnpitt Chronicles' sequence of novels, a character named Hunter perfectly illustrates the weird paradox that Western intellectuals still seem to face over the issue of twentieth-century totalitarianism. 'Hunter', Wilson writes, 'is one of those people who believe that those who, during the 1930s, were hoodwinked by Stalin were all slightly lovable, in no way at fault for disbelieving the stories of the genocides, the concentration camps and the show-trials. Those who were guided by comparable idealism into believing a different kind of nonsense were, by contrast, to be- left for ever in the dock beside the butchers of Nuremberg.'
The historian Richard Overy - author of acclaimed books such as The Road to War, The Battle of Britain, Goering, Russia's War, Interrogations, and Why the Allies Won - is the ideal person to write about this crucial aspect of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. He tells us in his
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Rivalries are intense and dangerous, and someone has to die.'
@NJCooper_crime on new thrillers by @HenryCPorter, @k_faulkner, @annafbailey, @mserinkelly, @JoelDicker, @AlanJParks, @whartonswords and more.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/april-2021-crime-round-up
This spring, give the gift of reading.
Give a friend a gift subscription to Literary Review for only £33.50.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/spring21/
'It’s long been known that there is an optimum reproductive window and that women enjoy a considerably shorter one than men. For both sexes this window is opening and closing earlier than it used to.' (£)
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-end-of-babies