Dictators in the Mirror of Medicine: Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin Review

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(More customer reviews)This book consists of biographies/medical histories of the three dictators Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin. Of the three, perhaps Napoleon comes across as the better man, but considering the other two that he is compared against, that is not much of a compliment.
What struck me about all three men was their utter ruthlessness and greed for power. Napoleon sacrificed his army in hopeless wars without any remorse, along with Hitler and Stalin. But Hitler and Stalin also participated directly in the murder of innocent civilians for reasons that only could make sense to someone hungry for power and paranoid to the extreme.
Dr. Neumayr reviews their lives, their physical ailments, and to a certain extent their mental health. But by no means is this a book that rambles on with page after page of suppositions and hastily drawn conclusions. To be sure, the mental health of all three is questioned, but were they insane? After reading about the millions of lives that these men took, and the misery caused for their countries, it is even more chilling to know that they knew exactly what they were doing.
All three paid the price for their murder, deceit and immorality. Dr Neumayr examines their physical health, and toward the end of their lives they all suffered from many physical ailments, some directly caused by the stress that their ambitions placed on them. But the suffering they had was as nothing compared to the suffering they caused.
I have also read Dr. Neumayer's three-volume biography/medical history of the great classical music composers. If your interest in famous people goes beyond learning a few facts about their lives, then these books will certainly be of interest to you. Highly recommended!

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Like comets, they flashed across the sky of worldpolitics; obsessed with power, they mobilized enormous masses ofpeople for their ambitious goalsthose three world-historicalfigures who changed the face of this earth: Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler.Millions of victims died on the altar of their greed for power, fame,and sadistic vengeance or of their pathological delusions.Withpersuasive expertise, Anton Neumayr discusses the medical historiesand develops fascinating psychographs of these three personalities,including psychiatric, psycho-historical, and criminal-psychologicalaspects.His clear writing style results from his unique combinationof talents, bringing psycho/historical/medical research within thegrasp of all.

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The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition (Modern Library Paperbacks) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a 1000+ page-turner. When I picked it up, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. This book definitely remedied that. Hugh Thomas begins shortly before the outbreak of the war and tells the story through to its completion (essentially 1936-1939). It is somewhat long, but the story itself is so compelling and Thomas' writing so good that it sucked me in and moved along nicely.
I have only a couple of gripes. First, if someone wants a short introduction, this may not be the book. I am sure there are other titles out there that will give you the basic facts in less time. As I said, however, reading the book was entertaining enough that I did not mind at all. As an example of an interesting factoid that emerges from this book, it seems that a substantial portion of the treasure from America that Spain won in the 16th century was given to the Soviets for safe-keeping. It is still there.
Second, while the book is strong on narrative, it is a little bit weak in analysis. What is especially lacking is an understanding of the factors that led to the outbreak of war in the first place. The books starts with a short chapter describing Spain in the early 20th century and plunges directly into the events leading up to the war. While the suspense before the outbreak of the war is palpable, the basic question of why a country would degenerate into civil war is hardly touched. In fairness to the author, he may have deliberately chosen to focus on the war itself rather than its causes. On the other hand, the discussion about why the Nationalists defeated the Republicans is fairly good. Two factors stand out. First, the Republicans were crippled by in-fighting amongst the factions, a fact that is admirably discussed. Second, the Nationalists received substantial help from abroad.
Author background: I am not a historian, but have read a handful of books on Spanish history.

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A masterpiece of the historian's art, Hugh Thomas's The Spanish Civil War remains the best, most engrossing narrative of one of the most emblematic and misunderstood wars of the twentieth century. Revised and updated with significant new material, including new revelations about atrocities perpetrated against civilians by both sides in this epic conflict, this "definitive work on the subject" (Richard Bernstein, The New York Times) has been given a fresh face forty years after its initial publication in 1961. In brilliant, moving detail, Thomas analyzes a devastating conflict in which the hopes, dreams, and dogmas of a century exploded onto the battlefield. Like no other account, The Spanish Civil War dramatically reassembles the events that led a European nation, in a continent on the brink of world war, to divide against itself, bringing into play the machinations of Franco and Hitler, the bloodshed of Guernica, and the deeply inspiring heroics of those who rallied to the side of democracy. Communists, anarchists, monarchists, fascists, socialists, democrats -- the various forces of the Spanish Civil War composed a fabric of the twentieth century itself, and Thomas masterfully weaves the diffuse and fascinating threads of the war together in a manner that has established the book as a genuine classic of modern history.

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