Preface; Introduction: the regimes and their dictators: perspectives of comparison; Part I. The Two Dictatorships: 1. Stalin and his Stalinism: power and authority in the Soviet Union 1930-1953 Ronal Suny; 2. Bureaucracy and the Stalinist state Moshe Lewin; 3. Cumulative radicalisation and progressive self-destruction: structural determinants of the Nazi dictatorship Hans Mommsen; 4. 'Working towards the Führer': reflections on the nature of the Hitler dictatorship Ian Kershaw; 5. The contradictions of continuous revolution Michael Mann; Part II. The War Machines: 6. The economics of war in the Soviet Union during World War II Jacques Sapir; 7. Stalin, the Red Army, and the great patriotic war Bern Bonwetsch; 8. From Blitzkrieg to total war: controversial links between image and reality Omer Bartov; Part III. The Big Debates: 9. Work, gender and everyday life: reflections on continuity, normality and agency in twentieth century Germany Mary Nolan; 10. From 'Great Fatherland War' to the Second World War: new perspectives and future prospects Mark von Hagen; 11. German exceptionalism and the origins of Nazism in the career of a concept George Steinmetz; 12. Stalinism and the politics of post-Soviet history Mark von Hagen; Conclusion.