Stalin, Volume II
Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Standard 1-month free trial
Buy Now for $33.76
-
Narrated by:
-
Paul Hecht
-
Written by:
-
Stephen Kotkin
About this listen
Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Kotkin continues his definitive biography of Stalin, from collectivization and the Great Terror through to the coming of the conflict with Hitler's Germany that is the signal event of modern world history.
When we left Stalin at the end of Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928, it was 1928, and he had finally climbed the mountaintop and achieved dictatorial power of the Soviet empire. The vastest peasant economy in the world would be transformed into socialist modernity, whatever it took. What it took, or what Stalin believed it took, was the most relentless campaign of shock industrialization the world has ever seen.
This is the story of the five-year plans, the new factory towns, and the integration of an entire system of penal labor into the larger economy. With the Great Depression throwing global capital into crisis, the Soviet Union's New Man looked like nothing so much as the man of the future. As the shadows of the '30's deepen, Stalin's drive to militarize Soviet society takes on increasing urgency, and the ambition of Nazi Germany becomes the predominant geopolitical reality he faces when Hitler claims that communism is a global "Judeo-Bolshevik" conspiracy to bring the Slavic race to power.
But just because they're out to get you doesn't mean you're not paranoid. Stalin's paranoia is increasingly one of the most horrible facts of life for his entire country. Stalin's obsessions drive him to violently purge almost a million people, including military leadership, diplomatic corps, and intelligence apparatus, to say nothing of a generation of artistic talent. And then came the pact that shocked the world and demoralized leftists everywhere: Stalin's pact with Hitler in 1939, the carve-up of Poland, and Stalin's utter inability to see Hitler's buildup to the invasion of the USSR.
Yet for all that, in just 12 years of total power, Stalin has taken this country from a peasant economy to a formidable modern war machine that rivaled anything else in the world. When the invasion came, Stalin wasn't ready, but his country would prove to be prepared. That is a dimension of the Stalin story that has never adequately been reckoned with before, and it looms large here. Stalin: Waiting for Hitler: 1929-1941 is, like its predecessor, nothing less than a history of the world from Stalin's desk. It is also, like its predecessor, a landmark achievement in the annals of its field and in the biographer's art.
©2017 Stephen Kotkin (P)2017 Recorded BooksYou may also enjoy...
-
Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- Written by: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall61
-
Performance51
-
Story49
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Vladimir Zhivov on 2020-09-01
Written by: Stephen Kotkin
-
A Mind at Play
- How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
- Written by: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall19
-
Performance15
-
Story15
Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-09-18
Written by: Rob Goodman, and others
-
A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- Written by: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3
-
Performance2
-
Story2
Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
-
-
Its always about the money
- By Danny Tosolini on 2022-10-27
Written by: Alan S. Blinder
-
Speer
- Hitler's Architect
- Written by: Martin Kitchen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall12
-
Performance10
-
Story10
In his best-selling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler's Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer's lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portraying a far darker figure who was deeply implicated in the appalling crimes committed by the regime he served so well. Kitchen reconstructs Speer's life with what we now know, including information from valuable new sources that have come to light only in recent years.
-
-
Well-read, with some dry sections but brilliant
- By R M M on 2018-04-04
Written by: Martin Kitchen
-
Hitler
- Ascent 1889-1939
- Written by: Volker Ullrich
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 34 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall19
-
Performance16
-
Story15
For all the literature about Adolf Hitler, there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler's childhood, to his failures as a young man in Vienna, to his experiences during the First World War, to his rise as a far-right party leader.
Written by: Volker Ullrich
-
The House of Government
- A Saga of the Russian Revolution
- Written by: Yuri Slezkine, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 45 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall2
-
Performance2
-
Story2
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction. The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment.
Written by: Yuri Slezkine, and others
-
Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- Written by: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall61
-
Performance51
-
Story49
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Vladimir Zhivov on 2020-09-01
Written by: Stephen Kotkin
-
A Mind at Play
- How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
- Written by: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall19
-
Performance15
-
Story15
Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-09-18
Written by: Rob Goodman, and others
-
A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- Written by: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3
-
Performance2
-
Story2
Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
-
-
Its always about the money
- By Danny Tosolini on 2022-10-27
Written by: Alan S. Blinder
-
Speer
- Hitler's Architect
- Written by: Martin Kitchen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall12
-
Performance10
-
Story10
In his best-selling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler's Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer's lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portraying a far darker figure who was deeply implicated in the appalling crimes committed by the regime he served so well. Kitchen reconstructs Speer's life with what we now know, including information from valuable new sources that have come to light only in recent years.
-
-
Well-read, with some dry sections but brilliant
- By R M M on 2018-04-04
Written by: Martin Kitchen
-
Hitler
- Ascent 1889-1939
- Written by: Volker Ullrich
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 34 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall19
-
Performance16
-
Story15
For all the literature about Adolf Hitler, there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler's childhood, to his failures as a young man in Vienna, to his experiences during the First World War, to his rise as a far-right party leader.
Written by: Volker Ullrich
-
The House of Government
- A Saga of the Russian Revolution
- Written by: Yuri Slezkine, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 45 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall2
-
Performance2
-
Story2
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction. The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment.
Written by: Yuri Slezkine, and others
-
Hitler
- Downfall: 1939-1945
- Written by: Volker Ullrich, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall12
-
Performance11
-
Story11
From the author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 comes a riveting account of the dictator's final years, when he got the war he wanted but his leadership led to catastrophe for his nation, the world, and himself. Volker Ullrich offers fascinating new insight into Hitler's character and personality, vividly portraying the insecurity, obsession with minutiae, and narcissistic penchant for gambling that led Hitler to overrule his subordinates and then blame them for his failures.
-
-
A Monster explained
- By Stix on 2021-10-09
Written by: Volker Ullrich, and others
-
Armageddon Averted
- The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
- Written by: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall13
-
Performance11
-
Story11
Combining historical and geopolitical analysis with an absorbing narrative, Kotkin draws upon extensive research, including memoirs by dozens of insiders and senior figures, to illuminate the factors that led to the demise of Communism and the USSR. The new edition puts the collapse in the context of the global economic and political changes from the 1970s to the present day. Kotkin creates a compelling profile of post-Soviet Russia.
Written by: Stephen Kotkin
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- Written by: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall51
-
Performance42
-
Story43
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
-
-
Awesome.
- By Kevin on 2018-07-22
Written by: Robert A. Caro
-
Time Out of Joint
- Written by: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0
-
Performance0
-
Story0
Ragle Gumm has a unique job: every day he wins a newspaper contest. And when he isn’t consulting his charts and tables, he enjoys his life in a small town in 1959. At least, that’s what he thinks. But then strange things start happening. He finds a phone book where all the numbers have been disconnected, and a magazine article about a famous starlet he’s never heard of named Marilyn Monroe. Plus, everyday objects are beginning to disappear and are replaced by
Written by: Philip K. Dick
-
October
- The Story of the Russian Revolution
- Written by: China Mieville
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall20
-
Performance19
-
Story19
The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution, and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions?
-
-
Very great book
- By Anonymous on 2023-05-18
Written by: China Mieville
-
The Coming of the Third Reich
- Written by: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall55
-
Performance41
-
Story40
There is no story in 20th-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time.
-
-
A detailed look at the Nazis' rise
- By Daniel Jo on 2026-01-06
Written by: Richard J. Evans
-
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
- Written by: Ian W. Toll
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall55
-
Performance47
-
Story47
On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative.
-
-
Great trio of books
- By Mikespoon on 2026-04-18
Written by: Ian W. Toll
-
The Third Reich at War
- Written by: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall39
-
Performance33
-
Story33
Evans interweaves a broad narrative of the war’s progress with viscerally affecting personal testimony from a wide range of people - from generals to front-line soldiers, from Hitler Youth activists to middle-class housewives. The Third Reich at War lays bare the dynamics of a nation more deeply immersed in war than any society before or since. Fresh insights into the conflict’s great events are here, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler’s suicide in the bunker.
-
-
Grim
- By RushFanForLife on 2021-06-18
Written by: Richard J. Evans
-
The Third Reich in Power
- Written by: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall36
-
Performance28
-
Story27
The definitive account of Germany's malign transformation under Hitler's total rule and the implacable march to war. This magnificent second volume of Richard J. Evans's three-volume history of Nazi Germany was hailed by Benjamin Schwartz of The Atlantic Monthly as "the definitive English-language account... gripping and precise." It chronicles the incredible story of Germany's radical reshaping under Nazi rule.
Written by: Richard J. Evans
-
The Arms of Krupp
- 1587-1968
- Written by: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 48 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall12
-
Performance11
-
Story11
The Arms of Krupp brings to life Europe's wealthiest, most powerful family, a 400-year German dynasty that developed the world's most technologically advanced weapons, from cannons to submarines to antiaircraft guns; provided arms to generations of German leaders, including the Kaiser and Hitler; operated private concentration camps during the Nazi era; survived conviction at Nuremberg; and wielded enormous influence on the course of world events.
-
-
A fascinating story about steel and arms.
- By Kindle Customer on 2019-05-28
Written by: William Manchester
-
The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- Written by: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall70
-
Performance52
-
Story52
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
-
-
A compelling, very informative book
- By Armstrong on 2023-05-07
Written by: John Toland
-
Iron and Blood
- A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples Since 1500
- Written by: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Rory Alexander
- Length: 34 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3
-
Performance0
-
Story0
German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Wilson finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting. Iron and Blood takes as its starting point the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which created new mechanisms for raising troops but also for resolving disputes diplomatically.
Written by: Peter H. Wilson
Detailed and Informative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Detailed, atmospheric
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.