Books and films that I personally think are helpful for your studies.
These are recommended but NOT compulsory, if you have time, if you are interested in a certain area etc these recomendations might be of some use to you.
Russian Revolution and Stalin:
Pipes, R. "A concise history of the Russian Revolution". 1996. ISBN 0-679-74544-0. He really hates the Bolsheviks and makes no exuses over this hatred, I find this book excellent as an introduction to the Russian Revolution, easy to read and quite entertaining. It is available in swedish too.
Conquest, R. "Stalin - Breaker of Nations". 1991. ISBN 0-14-016953-9. A good short and well structured biography, unlike Sebag it is not rich in deatils, meaning that you sometimes find it a bit boring.
Karlsson, K-G. "Terror och Tystnad - Sovjetregimens krig mot den egna befolkingen".2003. isbn 91-7486-746-6 This book is only available in Swedish and is fairly theoretical. I haven't read this book from page one, but used it as reference in my other studies. Yet I should say, it is on the list over books I will read.
Sebag Montefiore, Simon " Stalin - the court of the red Czar" ISBN 1400076781. This bokk is available in swedish too, I must say I have mixed emotions about this book, on one hand it gives you an excellent overview in detail on the Stalininst years in the Sovietunion, on the other hand it is very detailed and dropping names in a speed that makes it difficult to remeber what you read. If you read it try to get the big picture and don't loose yourself in details.
Appelbaum, Anne "Gulag - a history" ISBN 1400034094. This is an excellent systematic book on the camps in Soviet. Easy to read and very intersting. It is also available in swedish.
Cessarini, David. Ericson, Claes. "Sovjetunionens roliga historia - Makten, människan & skämtet". Only available in swedish, but one heck of a good book. Excellent for introduction to Soviet history with typical jokes from each period. Here is one:
"At three o'clock in the morning a soviet family is woken by a knock on the door. Nobody dares to open the door, but the knocking contiunues and intensifies. At last grandfather comes to the conclusion that he has the lived the longest and opens the door after 15 minutes. The rest of the family remains in bed pertified by terror. Grandfather returns quickly and apperently very relived says:
- No worries, it is only the house that is on fire."
At the Library "Statsbiblioteket" you can borrow Folkets Århundrade "Den röda fanan". This is an excellent video about Stalinism. These videos are originally made in english, called The Peoples Century. I found an excellent guide to the full serie, with descriptions of all the videos, timelines etc. Here.
Dokument Utifrån showed "Den hemlige Lenin". Original name "The secret Lenin". I have a private copy you can borrow, in swedish. This video clearly shows how Stalin inherrited many of his methods from Lenin and War Communism.
Hollywood made an bibliography over Stalin starring Robert Duvall, but I haven´t seen it. It was strongly recomended by one of the teachers at the Madrid Conference I attended in november 2006. The film made from Boris Pasternaks Doctor Zjivago is an excellent movie on the time between the Revolution and the War Communism
If you happen to pass Berlin, visit museum at Checkpoint Charlie, there is also a museum about the wall and the Stasi-museum. (among many many interesting things)
If you happen to go to to Budapest, visit The House of Terror, an excellent museum about the Stalinist Terror in Hungary. If you speak swedish go to my Budapestresan-page and read about this highly interesting city.
In Gdansk you can visit the Solidarity Musem.
LINKS TO REALLY GOOD WEBSITES ON SOVIET RUSSIA:
You really must visit http://www.soviethistory.org
Germany 1870 to 1939:
When you are visiting Berlin I recommend a visit to Potsdam and Sansouci, the old prussian castle. The park is beutiful etc. There is also an exhibit on Prussian history. Central Berlin is full of monuments etc. The Victory monument commerating the victory of 1871 has very interesting paintings inide.
When visiting London I strongly recommend a visit to The Imperial War museum, entrance is free and among otherthings they have an excellent exhibition of life in the trenches.
Movies about World War one are few but good. Stanley Kubricks Path of Glory is excellent. All quiet on the western front has been filmed too, the old version is cineastly better but the new one tells the story better. A fairly recent french movie "Un long dimanche de fiancailles" or "En lång förlovning" has some of the best and realistic scenes from the battlefields that I have seen, a good movie that I recommend.
Tons of books have been written about this war, among the best authors I put the brittish historian John Keegan, his book is also available in swedish.
There are also tons of great webpages about WW1, here are a few:
BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/
Imperial War Museum www.iwm.org.uk
A page with posters and images : http://www.ga.k12.pa.us/academics/us/TECHsite/WWIsite/WWIpages/imagesPOSTERS.html
Adolf Hitler.
A full biography of Hitler's life from 1889 until 1939 can be found on this page.
Worksheets etc on Germany until 1945 can be found here.
Transcpits of Hitler's speeches and a full copy of his "Mein Kampf" can be found here.
Richard J Evans "The comming of the third Reich". ISBN 0143034693. This is a new and good systematic book on the events in Weimar Germany that lead to the Rise of the Nazis.
Allan Bullock " Hitler - a study in tyranny" ISBN 1568520360. This an old book (1978) but a good book. What I liked about it was the abillity it had to tell the full story without drowning in pointless details. With the usage of quotes and interviews with the persons arround Hitler he manage to give us a good picture on what Hitler did and why he did it.
Richard M Watt "The Kings Depart" ISBN 184212658X. This is the best book I have read on the Versailles Peace Treaty and the German Revolutions 1919-1923. It clearly shows how and why the Weimar Republic failed to get Germany back ion track after World War One. I read it in Swedish but unfortunately the book is out of print in our language. The Swedish title is "Europeisk Tragedi".
When it comes to movies there are hundreds, if not thousands, on this area. I would recommend two, both recent and German. "Der Untergang" is excellent in showing the last days of Hitler, "Sophie Scholl" gives you a good idea on the atmosphere in Germany under Nazi rule.
Mussolini
The movie 1900 gives a good view on Italy back then. Of cause you have to watch "The Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin, both Musse and Hitler are portrayed in a genious way.
Cold War:
The book I recommended was : Bell, Philip. "The world since 1945 - an international history." The good thing about this book is the chronological overview it gives you, the bad thing is that it is driven by the authors own ideas and points of view and lacks the different historical schools etc.
Hungary and the events 1956.
Victor Sebestyen's "Ungern 1956 - tolv dagar som skakade världen." It is a very good book on the Stalinazation of Hungary. It clearly shows how Moscow controlled and implemeted their ideas in the Hungarian society, and how the communist leaders were puppets on Moscows strings. The part on the actual revolution is also interesting if you like me are interested in that period of the Cold War. He shows clearly how American foreign policies influenced the events. It is available in english too.
This summer I read Dent, Bob "Budapest 1956 - locarion of drama". This is also a very good book, it is not chronological, but goes from place to place were things happened during those dramatic days in 1956. If you are going to Budapest I strongly recomend you to read this book . If you haven´t been to Budapest i think Sebestyen's book is better.
I have a big private collection of books and articles on hungarian history since my spouse is hungarian.
GDR and Stasi, the wall etc.
I read Funder, Anna "Stasiland" and I strongly recomend that book. It is very easy to read and consists of interviews with both victims and perpurtraitors in GDR.
There are two German movies on this period. "Goodbye Lenin" is a comedy and quite good. It gives a good picture on everyday life in GDR, but it is a comedy and should be treated as such.
A much better film is the current (november 2006) "The life of others" (org title Das Leben der Anderen). The film is about a Stasi-agent and how he "supervise" a couple in Berlin in the 80's. A powerful drama that gives you a good idea of the perverted system in GDR.
A visit to the old Stasi headquaters at Normannenstrasse is compulsory for any historian going to Berlin.