Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century

Historical writing about the United States in the twentieth century has mushroomed over the years, reflecting great interest among American readers and students in books concerned with the recent past. University courses concerned with twentiethcentury American life are frequently very large and rely on a wealth of sources—not only books and articles but also published and unpublished archival materials, films, documentaries, recordings, statistical information, and oral accounts—that have enabled scholars to explore a wide range of issues and historical controversies.

From the Samuel Johnson Prize-winning author of Mao's Great Famine, a sweeping and timely study of twentieth-century dictators and the development of the modern cult of personality.