From a reader:
Jonah, I have about finished the book, and I must say well done. As a professional historian, I found your research quite good, although there were a few cases where an extra note might have been included. While there were some minor errors of fact (which I can tell you from personal experience can creep into any book), your general take was spot on. Reading the book also showed to me how intellectually dishonest (and condescending) David Oshinsky’s review in the Sunday Times was. I do note one rather bitter irony. The liberal fascists of the Wilsonian era wanted colleges to institute programs under the title of “War Studies.” Today, of course, military and diplomatic history are endangered species as fields of academic endeavor. Just being identified as a military historian (which I am) will earn you the “fascist” label, regardless of what your politics are. Generally, communism and nazism are simply two sides of the same totalitarian coin. Many of the social organizations created by Hitler and Stalin served precisely the same purpose. I would just that the biggest difference between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia was that the Germans had much snappier looking uniforms. Keep up the good work.