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Podcast: New Books in Eastern European Studies
Episode: Sean McMeekin, "Stalin's War: A New History of World War II" (Basic Books, 2021)
Description: World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler’s war; it was Stalin’s war.Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, Europe...