UMD GVPT Professor holds panel discussion on new book

On Tuesday, Nov. 6 the Woodrow Wilson Center will host a panel discussion dedicated to Vladimir Tismaneanu's new book, "The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century." 

Together with Vladimir Tsmaneanu, the panel will also feature Prof. Charles King of Georgetown University and Prof. Dennis Deletant of the University College London. Live webcast will start at 3:30 pm and can be watched here:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-devil-history-communism-fascism-and-some-lessons-the-twentieth-century

Reflecting Vladimir Tismaneanu's personal experiences within communist totalitarianism, The Devil in History is about political passions, radicalism, utopian ideals, and their catastrophic consequences in the twentieth century’s experiments in social engineering. Tismaneanu compares communism and fascism as competing, sometimes overlapping, and occasionally strikingly similar systems of political totalitarianism. He examines the inherent ideological appeal of these radical, revolutionary political movements, the visions of salvation and revolution they pursued, the value and types of charisma of leaders within these political movements, the place of violence within these systems, and their legacies in contemporary politics.

The Devil in History explores thinkers who have shaped contemporary understanding of totalitarian movements—such as: Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Albert Camus, François Furet, Tony Judt, Ian Kershaw, Leszek Kolakowski, Richard Pipes, and Robert C. Tucker.
As much a theoretical analysis of the practical philosophies of Marxism-Leninism and Fascism as it is a political biography of particular figures, The Devil in History deals with the incarnation of diabolically nihilistic principles of human subjugation and conditioning in the name of presumably pure and purifying goals.

The book has received numerous reviews, including this one in "Times Higher Education":

 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=421100