heads of state

A biography of the life of Adolf Hitler who became president and chancellor of Germany during the 1930s. His hunger for power led to invasions of numerous European countries and resulted in World War II.

Follows the life of the man who was head of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964.

A biography of the leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution who formulated the official Communist ideology and became the first head of the Soviet state.

Angela Merkel was born in West Germany but raised in East Germany. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Merkel started her rise to become Germany's first female chancellor. A scientist by training, she uses her analytical skills as she confronts issues in Germany, Europe, and the world with skill and tact.

Profiles the life and career of the Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China.

The death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 left a political vacuum. By 1957 that vacuum was filled by Nikita Khrushchev. He pushed for economic reforms and more accountability from Communist Party leaders. He wrongly believed that he could accomplish all this without fundamentally changing the system.

An introduction to Lenin and his role in the Russian Revolution and an objective account of his years in power between 1917 and 1924. Takes advantage of new documentation made available since the Gorbachev era and the end of the Soviet Union.

Deng Xiaoping was the driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late twentieth century. He confronted the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, dissolved Mao's cult of personality, and loosened the economic and social policy that had stunted China's growth. He welcomed moderization and technology and opened trade relations with the West.