Recs if you like Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar...

books about the second world war that investigate race, class, and gender and/or the human cost of the war. these aren’t the pop history books you buy your dad for christmas, i promise.

primarily (but not exclusively) academic history books read during my history MA program! consequently some may be a bit dense and/or dry.

Nonfiction (mostly 😺) that read like fiction

Books to fill in the gaps of the American education system, provide a more nuanced take, or broaden your world view.

ETA: People seem to be missing the point. We need to be informed, so we don't fall on the same mistakes. Biographies of the world’s most notorious dictators, but also their own manifestos and speeches. Figures such as Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao stand before you, their lives and their own words entwined. Let's discern the thoughts that shaped their actions, and the convictions that enabled them to seize and maintain absolute power to never let it happen again.