Alan Bullock's Hitler and Stalin is his crowning achievement, the magnumopus of one of today's most admired historians--the distinguished Oxfordscholar and author of the now classic Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. This newwork is a full-scale dual biography, remarkable for the richness andclarity of its narrative, for its historical astuteness, and above all forits freshly revealing perspective. Bullock examines his protagonists not inthe traditional context of their conflicts with the Western Alliance but,for the first time, primarily against the more fruitful background ofBerlin-Moscow relations; for he sees the cataclysmic history of Europe inthe mid-twentieth century as an ongoing and accelerating clash between theaspirations of Germany and those of the Soviet Union. Until now thependulum has swung between exaggeration and underestimation of the rolesplayed by Hitler and Stalin. Bullock argues convincingly that, in order toshow how two such outsiders came to power, it is necessary to take intoaccount both the historical circumstances that gave them an opportunityand the highly individual traits and gifts each man used to exploit it. Hegoes on to explore the nature and scope of their power. His approach,developed with a remarkable command of historical and psychological detailand a sure grasp of historical currents--both the sweeping and thesmall--is to take the reader through one after another of the majorcrises: from Stalin's savage attack on the Russian peasantry and the Nazitakeover of Germany, to Stalin's destructive purges of the Communist Partyand the Red Army, and Hitler's planned attempt to exterminate the Jewishpopulation of Europe. Bullock finds in both Hitler and Stalin, despite theradical differences between them, the same unshaken belief in theirhistoric missions, overriding any regard for law, limits, or humanity andarmoring them against any feeling of compassion, remorse, or guilt.