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Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin Audiobook
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(4.00) - 1,617 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
From the author of the international bestseller On Tyranny, the definitive history of Hitler’s and Stalin’s politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century.
Americans call the Second World War "The Good War."But before it even began, America's wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens--and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was finally defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war's end, both the German and the Soviet killing sites fell behind the iron curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness.
Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.
Bloodlands won twelve awards including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Leipzig Award for European Understanding, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought. It has been translated into more than thirty languages, was named to twelve book-of-the-year lists, and was a bestseller in six countries.
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"A great and terrible book about the greatest horror of the 20th Century - Nazi and Soviet mass murder in Eastern Europe. Chapter after chapter, it immerses the reader in the worst things in the world, without ever really becoming numbing or unbearable. The last chapter is a fearless moral conclusion, condemning the appropriation of victimhood, of lies and damn lies, and how those are not harmless (albiet odious) political devices, but have actually led to more killing. Highly recommended."
— Douglas (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“A startling new interpretation of the period…A stunning book.”
— New Yorker -
“A brave and original history of mass killing in the twentieth century.”
— New York Review of Books -
“A superb work of scholarship, full of revealing detail, cleverly compiled…and in places beautifully written…Snyder does justice to the horror of his subject through the power of storytelling.”
— Sunday Times (London) -
“A magisterial work.”
— Foreign Affairs -
“Snyder’s book is revisionist history of the best kind: in spare, closely argued prose, with meticulous use of statistics, he makes the reader rethink some of the best-known episodes in Europe’s modern history.”
— Economist (London) -
“A chillingly systematic study…A significant work of staggering figures and scholarship.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
A startling new interpretation of the period ... a stunning book.
— David Denby, New Yorker -
A superb and harrowing history.
— Financial Times -
Genuinely shattering.... I have never seen a book like it.
— Istvan Deak, New Republic -
A brave and original history of mass killing in the twentieth century.
— Anne Applebaum, New York Review of Books -
A magisterial work.... Snyder's account in engaging, encyclopedic.
— Foreign Affairs -
Gripping and comprehensive.... Mr. Snyder's book is revisionist history of the best kind: in spare, closely argued prose, with meticulous use of statistics, he makes the reader rethink some of the best-known episodes in Europe's modern history.
— Economist -
Snyder...compels us to look squarely at the full range of destruction committed first by Stalin's regime and then by Hitler's Reich.... A comprehensive and eloquent account.
— New York Times Book Revew -
A superb work of scholarship, full of revealing detail, cleverly compiled...and in places beautifully written.... Snyder does justice to the horror of his subject through the power of storytelling.
— The Sunday Times (London)
Awards
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A Literary Hub Pick of Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade
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Winner of the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature
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Winner of the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought
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Winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal
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Winner of the Leipzig Award for European Understanding
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Winner of the Emerson Prize in the Humanities
Bloodlands Listener Reviews
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" An astonishing book. I thought I understood the Second World War - but this is a whole now level "
— Parky, 5/18/2023 -
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thomas dale, 12/8/2022
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" Boring history told ove and over Russia has not changed from 1890. To 2022. Russia is a gangsters paridice will it change NO. Need new leadership. "
— Sm, 4/15/2022 -
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Timothy Mott Sr, 3/23/2018
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" Hard to believe this could happen so recently. I already knew about the Terror, and the famines, but to read the stories and see the numbersd is astounding. Incredible research. I have to admit, I find myself thinking "this is impossible, he must be wrong!" A great book. "
— Barb, 2/3/2014 -
" Stunning story of the fate that fell to the lands unfortunate to fall between two of the 20th century's worst psychopaths. A good complement to "Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million" by Martin Amis. "
— Mark, 12/23/2013 -
" Excellent look at the complicated rise of two tyrants that for ever reshaped the world. A good historical look at the circumstances surrounding their rise to power. Well researched and well written. Although hard and grim reminder of psychotic actions driven by power. "
— Paul, 12/3/2013 -
" Perhaps one of the most depressing -- yet necessary -- books I have ever read. "
— Laura, 11/7/2013 -
" Grim reading, but the go-to book for detailed accounts of the murders committed by Hitler and Stalin against the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. "
— Stanley, 10/29/2013 -
" Great book! Perfect for those who are interested in the bloody history of Eastern Europe during the WWII and Stalin`s repressions. "
— Olegs, 10/20/2013 -
" Although it describes events almost too terrible to read, an excellent and necessary lesson. "
— Richard, 8/9/2013 -
" Not a light read, either in style or substance, but it definitely gives a new perspective on genocide and the 20th century. I consider myself fairly well-versed in these topics, and this gave new-to-me information. I may purchase a copy. "
— Laura, 5/18/2012 -
" An amazing and telling history of the lands between Russia and Germany which endured the brunt of both Hitler and Stalin's methods and motives of extermination of populations barely hinted at in the confines of the Holocaust "
— Andrew, 4/5/2012 -
" Depressing book alright but deeply interesting. "
— Sarah, 3/22/2012 -
" Too depressing. After reading about Stalin's deliberate starvation of the Ukraine, I couldn't go on. "
— Rita, 3/19/2012 -
" "One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic" --Stalin "
— Gaeta1, 1/3/2012 -
" A must read for those who don't learn history in school today. A true account of how man can be cruel and evil in the name of their government. "
— Mark, 9/22/2011 -
" A litany of death coloured by individual lives. "
— May, 5/10/2011 -
" Great book! Perfect for those who are interested in the bloody history of Eastern Europe during the WWII and Stalin`s repressions. "
— Olegs, 4/23/2011 -
" Though Professor Snyder's account occasionally bogs down with apparatchik in-fights, he challenges the mind's capacity for horror as this once-multinational landscape is alternately transported, butchered, and starved into a war-shocked, Jewless state. "
— Darosenthal, 4/17/2011 -
" Horribly disturbing, but fills in a lot of pre- and WWII events that you never heard about. "
— Judy, 4/8/2011 -
" Interesting study of how most intentional murder during WWII done by Germans and Russians occurred in area of Eastern Europe between Germany and Russia. But not very well written and in much need of editing (i.e., way too long for what it said). "
— John, 4/7/2011 -
" Made it through half and skimmed the rest. This book was a beating. "
— David, 4/1/2011 -
" Excellent look at Holocaust from a different view. Russia/Germany war. Explains different ideas for Final Solution. Things evolved, and this author was on top of it. "
— Davehbo, 3/22/2011
About Timothy Snyder
Timothy Snyder is the author of several New York Times bestselling and acclaimed books, including Road to Unfreedom, Our Malady, and On Freedom. His work has received the Hannah Arendt Prize, the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding, and an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has inspired poster campaigns and exhibitions, sculptures, a punk rock song, a rap song, a play, and an opera, and he has appeared in over fifty films and documentaries. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
About the Narrators
Geoffrey Howard (a.k.a. Ralph Cosham) was a stage actor and an award-winning narrator. He recorded more than 100 audiobooks in his lifetime and won the prestigious Audio Award for Best Narration and several AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Geoffrey Howard (a.k.a. Ralph Cosham) was a stage actor and an award-winning narrator. He recorded more than 100 audiobooks in his lifetime and won the prestigious Audio Award for Best Narration and several AudioFile Earphones Awards.