--- product_id: 221535 title: "Bloodlands" price: "SAR 169" currency: SAR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/221535-bloodlands store_origin: SA region: Saudi Arabia --- # Bloodlands **Price:** SAR 169 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Bloodlands - **How much does it cost?** SAR 169 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.sa](https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/221535-bloodlands) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The definitive history of Hitler and Stalin's politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century, from the author of the international bestseller, On Tyranny . Americans call the Second World War "the Good War." But before it even began, America's ally Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens, and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war's end, German and Soviet killing sites fell behind the Iron Curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single story. Bloodlands is a required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history and its meaning today. Review: Unbelievable and Illuminating Historical Document of Genocide - I began reading this book as a tool for gaining a better understanding of what is going on in the Ukraine. There is no understanding of Ukraine's current situation without understanding the cultural, social and criminal history laid out in this groundbreaking book. The key to Bloodlands is that it is based upon STATISTICS. This book is not based upon he said she said third party accounts. That is all that German histories of the Holocaust can be since the key point is that 95% of "Holocaust" deaths did not occur in or near Germany. They occurred in Eastern Europe, and the Allies never even reached the places where the killing happened. The Nazis were meticulous record keepers and they also had plenty of help from the local populations of the countries they invaded. Timothy Snyder brings a wealth of statistical evidence to bear on the subject of Genocide. Ukrainians are begging us today to free them from the Holodomor denying Russians. I hate to admit this, but I did not even understand what the Holodomor was. The "History" books sold me on the lie that Stalin was just doing what he had to do to establish the Soviet state and the Kulaks were a resistance group who had to be "dealt with". And there is the bizarre conundrum that Stalin was right ... the Kulaks and other dissenters who were shipped to the Gulag saved the Soviets by establishing industry in Siberia. We know that Stalin's brutality saved Russia (barely) in World War 2. I have always thought that this indisputable fact justified whatever Stalin did. But I know now that Ukrainians can never forget the Holodomor genocide. And the Russians have made an inexcusable mistake in denying that the Holodomor occurred. It is crucial to understand the Historical facts presented here in light of the Ukrainian/Russian crisis. The Hitler vs. Stalin Genocide comparison quickly reveals that there was not one Holocaust, but many. The author's premise that you need to compare genocides statistically in order to understand their true nature is clearly demonstrated. I must say that the planned starvation of the Ukrainian Holodomor exceeds by far any evil that can be conceived of. Stalin's wife did the right thing in shooting herself in the heart as a response to what Stalin was doing to the Ukrainians. Bloodlands relies on statistics from documents made available since the fall of the Soviet empire to expose the reality of what actually happened. The statistical analysis is backed up by humanizing eyewitness accounts. The author reduced me to tears repeatedly with the sorrowful vignettes he selected to elucidate what the cold statistics meant. When I started reading Bloodlands I was attracted by some of the Horrific statements made in the Preface but it was not clear to me what Timothy Snyder meant when he said that in order to understand Genocide you need to compare one Genocide to other Genocides. But it very quickly became clear that the Hollywood version of the Nazi concentration camps was quite civilized compared to brutal Einsatzgruppen massacres like Babi Yar. 90% of Holocaust deaths involved the victims being rounded up, thrown in a pit and shot on the spot. It was just in your face DEATH with no death camps or sad family goodbyes. I have watched footage of the shootings and now understand why Jews were so passive and simply lay down in the pits to be slaughtered. They were completely dehumanized and facing atrocities on a scale where it was better to be shot and get it over with. Victims don't write history but Timothy Snyder has done an eloquent job of speaking for them. Anyone who wants to understand this book needs to watch the actual murder footage on the Internet. (Einsatzgruppen, Holodomor, WW2 etc, It's all out there. Sickening stuff, but inescapable.) There is no hiding behind propaganda and lies in today's world ... the footage that is out there confirms what Bloodlands says. An important aspect of Bloodlands is to bring the individuals who suffered such atrocities to life. In addition to being a great student of History Timothy Snyder is also a great writer. He has a keen sense of how spirtuality manifests itself in every day life. We clearly see the people who are being massacred in human terms. After looking at the stats we are presented with a heartbreaking story of a simple human being who was senselessly and needlessly slaughtered. Bloodlands makes it clear from the outset that the German accounts of the Holocaust represent an insignificant 2% of the victims. We are introduced to the other 98% along the way. And we are presented with many surreal scenarios that were commonplace. Eg. A Ukrainian man is captured by the invading Bolsheviks and serves in the Red Army. He runs away to join Nationalist Partisans, is captured by the Nazis and fights for them against the Bolsheviks. He is again captured by the Bolsheviks and is sent to Siberia. Seemingly bizarre examples demonstrate the ephemeral nature of survival in the Bloodlands. What is clear is that since the Bloodlands were occupied twice by the Bolsheviks and once by the Nazis the hapless victims had no chance of self determination whatsoever. And if they survived at all they were fortunate. In considering what the message of this book is, the author is clear in his intentions to avoid political intrigues and focus on the Bloodlands as a source of food that was essential for both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. What is shown here is that when survival is on the line, there are no laws that can govern the atrocities people are forced to commit. Since we are approaching population levels where food is becoming scarce again we need to remember; Russians are not just posturing over the Ukraine, that is their breadbasket. We need to understand the history of this region and how dangerous Russian denial of Holodomor is. Ukrainians won't accept that any more than Israelis will accept Holocaust deniers. At least the Holocaust is recognized by most people. Holodomor is not. We cannot comprehend how the Ukrainians must feel. One of the greatest atrocities in history and it's not even recognized. This is what I learned from Bloodlands; The victims of these atrocities are still here with us. They are Ukrainians. World War 2 is not over. If Ukrainians feel the way I think they feel, then the current situation is a life/death struggle that cannot be settled peacefully. Russian leaders need to learn a lesson from Pope John Paul II; he was the last person who needed to apologize for the massacre of Jews in Poland. Yet he did apologize because he recognized that it was a necessary step in the healing process. Timothy Snyder has big balls as a man in taking on this subject. It is clear to me why Historians simply want nothing to do with it. Reading the facts quite simply made me sick to my stomach. I can't imagine how the author remained immersed in this material for years. As readers we are indebted to him for providing an undeniable resource regarding the Genocides in Eastern Europe. By providing statistical analysis backed up by concrete examples he refutes those who seek to replace Historical fact with Nationalist Revisionist History. Bloodlands brings to mind the old axiom: Those who cannot learn from history are destined to repeat it. Review: Explaining the Numbers … - True or not, Joseph Stalin is often credited with stating: “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.” That broadly applied quote certainly rings true when one factors how little value human life had in Eastern Europe between 1930 and 1953 (encompassing the crux of Stalin and Hitler’s reigns). With BLOODLANDS, Timothy Snyder sifts through millions upon millions of needless deaths at the hands of two bloodthirsty regimes and draws logical conclusions as to how and why the simple statistics often overshadow the underlying tragedy. The experience of reading “Black Earth” (Snyder’s most recent work) prompted me to go back and read BLOODLANDS; I was glad I did. While both books exemplify a deep, personal approach by the author to present the subject matter in a scholarly manner, I found “Black Earth” to be more provocative and ambitious than I would have preferred, with the author dragging the issue of “climate change” at the end of the book. BLOODLANDS, on the other hand, digs deep into the unimaginable horrors endured by those living in specific region of Europe. A region that, for 20+ years, served as a carcass that was ripped apart and fought over by two ravenous lions (Stalin and Hitler). What made BLOODLANDS such a compelling read? Mainly, it is the manner in which the author presents the material. After reading countless volumes addressing individual aspects of modern Eastern European history that includes Stalin’s purges, designed famine, World War II, ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust, I have yet to read a book that encompasses such a broad, yet thorough, analysis of the region that bore the brunt of all these tragedies. Snyder manages to examine the significant complexities associated with all these horrific events and merge them as one elongated period of suffering delivered by different hands. It is from this perspective that readers will better understand the more intricate nature of tragedy amid the gaudy death counts that characterize this period of time. Chronologically written, the book introduces the effects of Stalin’s failed attempts to industrialize the beleaguered Soviet Union by collectivizing farms and eventually starving, murdering or imprisoning entire rural regions. The death toll from famine and political purging is already in the millions before Adolph Hitler sets forth with his plans for Eastern Europe. Snyder bookends the disaster of World War II and the Holocaust with pre- and post-war actions directed by Stalin against his own people. Snyder purposefully makes it difficult to simply label either Stalin or Hitler as being “more evil” than the other … the book is too deep to draw such a simple conclusion. Starvation, mass murder, imprisonment and ethnic cleansing were tools used by both dictators to achieve desired goals and the mounting millions of dead simply became a tool of justification (you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs). What I really appreciated about BLOODLANDS was that it provided a clearer understanding of the dilemma faced by those living between Hitler and Stalin (the “bloodlands”) … approximately 100 million people comprising large ethnic groups deemed undesirable in one way or another. Subject to being successively occupied by the Soviets and the Germans (and in places like Poland, Belarus and the Ukraine … the Soviets again) there was nowhere to go … no escape. Collaborating with one occupier generally meant death when the other occupier gained/re-gained control. The desperation described by those put in this position is quite palpable and summed up quite succinctly in a poem written by a Polish Home Army soldier fighting the Germans in Warsaw and waiting for relief from the Red Army: “We await you, red plague / To deliver us from the black death”. This region was where the majority of all deaths on the Eastern Front occurred … it is the site of the Katyn massacre, the pits of Babi Yar, all of the extermination camps, the Jewish ghettos and thousands of villages/towns burned to the ground. The Holocaust has its place in the book, but only represents a part of the whole story. Snyder does a good job in keeping focus on the plight of the overall region, not just the Jews (although anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe doesn’t end with Germany’s defeat). The history presented throughout the book, while sobering enough, is accentuated with individual accounts that provide a deeper perspective of the ongoing inhumanity that this part of Europe endured for more than 20 years. The bulk of BLOODLANDS lends itself to the period of the Second World War, but, in essence the bloodshed didn’t start with the war and it doesn’t end with the war. Postwar Stalin directives led to many more deaths in the form of Gulag internments and forced relocations. Throughout the book, the death tolls from various actions (large and small) are hammered out on a regular basis and the reader is somewhat numbed by these figures from the beginning (they simply become statistics). At the book’s conclusion, Snyder examines the numbers and effectively manages to convey these statistics for what they truly are: millions of individual tragedies. He also offers clarification to the West, which tends to associate the concentration camps liberated in western Germany as examples of the killing in the East. He points out that concentration camps were never designed to kill and the deaths at those camps were more consequential than intentional … all the extermination camps were located in the “bloodlands”. BLOODLANDS is one of the better history books I’ve read in years. While I have numerous volumes that detail specific events in the same period of history, none of them collectively illustrate the misery and atrocity as concisely as this book does. BLOODLANDS certainly provides a much better understanding of one of the darkest and most misunderstood periods of the modern era. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #760,070 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Russian History (Books) #6 in Jewish Holocaust History #10 in History of Civilization & Culture | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,351 Reviews | ## Images ![Bloodlands - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81tPeiigRgL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unbelievable and Illuminating Historical Document of Genocide *by S***I on March 8, 2014* I began reading this book as a tool for gaining a better understanding of what is going on in the Ukraine. There is no understanding of Ukraine's current situation without understanding the cultural, social and criminal history laid out in this groundbreaking book. The key to Bloodlands is that it is based upon STATISTICS. This book is not based upon he said she said third party accounts. That is all that German histories of the Holocaust can be since the key point is that 95% of "Holocaust" deaths did not occur in or near Germany. They occurred in Eastern Europe, and the Allies never even reached the places where the killing happened. The Nazis were meticulous record keepers and they also had plenty of help from the local populations of the countries they invaded. Timothy Snyder brings a wealth of statistical evidence to bear on the subject of Genocide. Ukrainians are begging us today to free them from the Holodomor denying Russians. I hate to admit this, but I did not even understand what the Holodomor was. The "History" books sold me on the lie that Stalin was just doing what he had to do to establish the Soviet state and the Kulaks were a resistance group who had to be "dealt with". And there is the bizarre conundrum that Stalin was right ... the Kulaks and other dissenters who were shipped to the Gulag saved the Soviets by establishing industry in Siberia. We know that Stalin's brutality saved Russia (barely) in World War 2. I have always thought that this indisputable fact justified whatever Stalin did. But I know now that Ukrainians can never forget the Holodomor genocide. And the Russians have made an inexcusable mistake in denying that the Holodomor occurred. It is crucial to understand the Historical facts presented here in light of the Ukrainian/Russian crisis. The Hitler vs. Stalin Genocide comparison quickly reveals that there was not one Holocaust, but many. The author's premise that you need to compare genocides statistically in order to understand their true nature is clearly demonstrated. I must say that the planned starvation of the Ukrainian Holodomor exceeds by far any evil that can be conceived of. Stalin's wife did the right thing in shooting herself in the heart as a response to what Stalin was doing to the Ukrainians. Bloodlands relies on statistics from documents made available since the fall of the Soviet empire to expose the reality of what actually happened. The statistical analysis is backed up by humanizing eyewitness accounts. The author reduced me to tears repeatedly with the sorrowful vignettes he selected to elucidate what the cold statistics meant. When I started reading Bloodlands I was attracted by some of the Horrific statements made in the Preface but it was not clear to me what Timothy Snyder meant when he said that in order to understand Genocide you need to compare one Genocide to other Genocides. But it very quickly became clear that the Hollywood version of the Nazi concentration camps was quite civilized compared to brutal Einsatzgruppen massacres like Babi Yar. 90% of Holocaust deaths involved the victims being rounded up, thrown in a pit and shot on the spot. It was just in your face DEATH with no death camps or sad family goodbyes. I have watched footage of the shootings and now understand why Jews were so passive and simply lay down in the pits to be slaughtered. They were completely dehumanized and facing atrocities on a scale where it was better to be shot and get it over with. Victims don't write history but Timothy Snyder has done an eloquent job of speaking for them. Anyone who wants to understand this book needs to watch the actual murder footage on the Internet. (Einsatzgruppen, Holodomor, WW2 etc, It's all out there. Sickening stuff, but inescapable.) There is no hiding behind propaganda and lies in today's world ... the footage that is out there confirms what Bloodlands says. An important aspect of Bloodlands is to bring the individuals who suffered such atrocities to life. In addition to being a great student of History Timothy Snyder is also a great writer. He has a keen sense of how spirtuality manifests itself in every day life. We clearly see the people who are being massacred in human terms. After looking at the stats we are presented with a heartbreaking story of a simple human being who was senselessly and needlessly slaughtered. Bloodlands makes it clear from the outset that the German accounts of the Holocaust represent an insignificant 2% of the victims. We are introduced to the other 98% along the way. And we are presented with many surreal scenarios that were commonplace. Eg. A Ukrainian man is captured by the invading Bolsheviks and serves in the Red Army. He runs away to join Nationalist Partisans, is captured by the Nazis and fights for them against the Bolsheviks. He is again captured by the Bolsheviks and is sent to Siberia. Seemingly bizarre examples demonstrate the ephemeral nature of survival in the Bloodlands. What is clear is that since the Bloodlands were occupied twice by the Bolsheviks and once by the Nazis the hapless victims had no chance of self determination whatsoever. And if they survived at all they were fortunate. In considering what the message of this book is, the author is clear in his intentions to avoid political intrigues and focus on the Bloodlands as a source of food that was essential for both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. What is shown here is that when survival is on the line, there are no laws that can govern the atrocities people are forced to commit. Since we are approaching population levels where food is becoming scarce again we need to remember; Russians are not just posturing over the Ukraine, that is their breadbasket. We need to understand the history of this region and how dangerous Russian denial of Holodomor is. Ukrainians won't accept that any more than Israelis will accept Holocaust deniers. At least the Holocaust is recognized by most people. Holodomor is not. We cannot comprehend how the Ukrainians must feel. One of the greatest atrocities in history and it's not even recognized. This is what I learned from Bloodlands; The victims of these atrocities are still here with us. They are Ukrainians. World War 2 is not over. If Ukrainians feel the way I think they feel, then the current situation is a life/death struggle that cannot be settled peacefully. Russian leaders need to learn a lesson from Pope John Paul II; he was the last person who needed to apologize for the massacre of Jews in Poland. Yet he did apologize because he recognized that it was a necessary step in the healing process. Timothy Snyder has big balls as a man in taking on this subject. It is clear to me why Historians simply want nothing to do with it. Reading the facts quite simply made me sick to my stomach. I can't imagine how the author remained immersed in this material for years. As readers we are indebted to him for providing an undeniable resource regarding the Genocides in Eastern Europe. By providing statistical analysis backed up by concrete examples he refutes those who seek to replace Historical fact with Nationalist Revisionist History. Bloodlands brings to mind the old axiom: Those who cannot learn from history are destined to repeat it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Explaining the Numbers … *by D***E on November 10, 2015* True or not, Joseph Stalin is often credited with stating: “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.” That broadly applied quote certainly rings true when one factors how little value human life had in Eastern Europe between 1930 and 1953 (encompassing the crux of Stalin and Hitler’s reigns). With BLOODLANDS, Timothy Snyder sifts through millions upon millions of needless deaths at the hands of two bloodthirsty regimes and draws logical conclusions as to how and why the simple statistics often overshadow the underlying tragedy. The experience of reading “Black Earth” (Snyder’s most recent work) prompted me to go back and read BLOODLANDS; I was glad I did. While both books exemplify a deep, personal approach by the author to present the subject matter in a scholarly manner, I found “Black Earth” to be more provocative and ambitious than I would have preferred, with the author dragging the issue of “climate change” at the end of the book. BLOODLANDS, on the other hand, digs deep into the unimaginable horrors endured by those living in specific region of Europe. A region that, for 20+ years, served as a carcass that was ripped apart and fought over by two ravenous lions (Stalin and Hitler). What made BLOODLANDS such a compelling read? Mainly, it is the manner in which the author presents the material. After reading countless volumes addressing individual aspects of modern Eastern European history that includes Stalin’s purges, designed famine, World War II, ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust, I have yet to read a book that encompasses such a broad, yet thorough, analysis of the region that bore the brunt of all these tragedies. Snyder manages to examine the significant complexities associated with all these horrific events and merge them as one elongated period of suffering delivered by different hands. It is from this perspective that readers will better understand the more intricate nature of tragedy amid the gaudy death counts that characterize this period of time. Chronologically written, the book introduces the effects of Stalin’s failed attempts to industrialize the beleaguered Soviet Union by collectivizing farms and eventually starving, murdering or imprisoning entire rural regions. The death toll from famine and political purging is already in the millions before Adolph Hitler sets forth with his plans for Eastern Europe. Snyder bookends the disaster of World War II and the Holocaust with pre- and post-war actions directed by Stalin against his own people. Snyder purposefully makes it difficult to simply label either Stalin or Hitler as being “more evil” than the other … the book is too deep to draw such a simple conclusion. Starvation, mass murder, imprisonment and ethnic cleansing were tools used by both dictators to achieve desired goals and the mounting millions of dead simply became a tool of justification (you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs). What I really appreciated about BLOODLANDS was that it provided a clearer understanding of the dilemma faced by those living between Hitler and Stalin (the “bloodlands”) … approximately 100 million people comprising large ethnic groups deemed undesirable in one way or another. Subject to being successively occupied by the Soviets and the Germans (and in places like Poland, Belarus and the Ukraine … the Soviets again) there was nowhere to go … no escape. Collaborating with one occupier generally meant death when the other occupier gained/re-gained control. The desperation described by those put in this position is quite palpable and summed up quite succinctly in a poem written by a Polish Home Army soldier fighting the Germans in Warsaw and waiting for relief from the Red Army: “We await you, red plague / To deliver us from the black death”. This region was where the majority of all deaths on the Eastern Front occurred … it is the site of the Katyn massacre, the pits of Babi Yar, all of the extermination camps, the Jewish ghettos and thousands of villages/towns burned to the ground. The Holocaust has its place in the book, but only represents a part of the whole story. Snyder does a good job in keeping focus on the plight of the overall region, not just the Jews (although anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe doesn’t end with Germany’s defeat). The history presented throughout the book, while sobering enough, is accentuated with individual accounts that provide a deeper perspective of the ongoing inhumanity that this part of Europe endured for more than 20 years. The bulk of BLOODLANDS lends itself to the period of the Second World War, but, in essence the bloodshed didn’t start with the war and it doesn’t end with the war. Postwar Stalin directives led to many more deaths in the form of Gulag internments and forced relocations. Throughout the book, the death tolls from various actions (large and small) are hammered out on a regular basis and the reader is somewhat numbed by these figures from the beginning (they simply become statistics). At the book’s conclusion, Snyder examines the numbers and effectively manages to convey these statistics for what they truly are: millions of individual tragedies. He also offers clarification to the West, which tends to associate the concentration camps liberated in western Germany as examples of the killing in the East. He points out that concentration camps were never designed to kill and the deaths at those camps were more consequential than intentional … all the extermination camps were located in the “bloodlands”. BLOODLANDS is one of the better history books I’ve read in years. While I have numerous volumes that detail specific events in the same period of history, none of them collectively illustrate the misery and atrocity as concisely as this book does. BLOODLANDS certainly provides a much better understanding of one of the darkest and most misunderstood periods of the modern era. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ An important book, especially for Americans *by B***E on October 27, 2014* This is an important book for Americans to read. We have a lot of romance surrounding World War II, for several reasons. First, the US and its allies won the war–in a relatively short period of time (Dec 1941 to August 1945). Second, it is the last war Americans can point to that nearly everyone agrees was a "just war" on our end. Indeed, my grandfather joined the Marines because he grew up admiring his older cousins who had served in WWII–though my grandfather’s experience in war (Vietnam) turned out very differently. Third, Americans’ sympathy for the Jews and their plight (as well as our historic support for the state of Israel) makes the Holocaust loom large in our cultural memory of WWII, and we like to think of ourselves as having liberated the Jews from a regime of consummate evil: Nazi Germany. This manifests itself in both serious movies about WWII (e.g., Saving Private Ryan) and films with more stereotyped portraits of Nazis (Indiana Jones movies and Inglourious Basterds come immediately to mind). Snyder’s book does not minimize the horror and gravity of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust. Rather, his book carefully situates the various persecutions and murders of Jews within the larger historical context of two powerful regimes: first, Stalin’s Soviet Union, and second, Hitler’s rising Germany. He tells the story of Stalin’s plan to starve a third of Ukrainians in 1931, of the Molotov-Riggentrop Pact which carved up Poland and other states into spheres of Nazi and Soviet exploitation and oppression, and of the horrible loss of civilians and soldiers in Belarus, Poland, the Baltics, Ukraine, and Russia after Hitler violated the pact. The Eastern European front was far more bloody and horrific than the Western front. Snyder tells the big-picture narrative using shocking statistics of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions killed–but he also includes personal testimonies that humanize the individuals behind these numbingly high figures. The sufferings of these nations (and their constituent Jewish populations) are each unique, and Snyder treats them that way. Snyder presents to an English-speaking audience the cultural and geopolitical factors that led to the Holocaust. He speaks of how the Allies betrayed Eastern Europe, especially Poland and the Baltics, allowing them to fall under Soviet influence. (Perhaps the West didn’t know at the time how bad Soviet communism was, but there were signs that Western leaders should not have ignored.) It is all well and good to say, "Never again," but unless we understand the cultural and political backdrop of these atrocities, they will happen again. Bloodlands has helped me understand the historical backdrop of the setting in which I’m teaching (Northeastern Europe, within the "Bloodlands"). A third of my current students are American, a third are German, and a third are from former Soviet states, including Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. As helpful as history can be, I also must resist the temptation to superimpose the histories of these countries on the individuals with which I am interacting. Most of my students are under 22, so they have no personal memory of life in their countries before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In his sobering conclusion, Snyder writes of the responsibility of the contemporary reader of historiography, especially the Western reader: "Ideologies also tempt those who reject them. Ideology, when stripped by time or partisanship of its political and economic connections, becomes a moralizing form of explanation for mass killing, one that comfortably separates the people who explain from the people who kill. It is convenient to see the perpetrator just as someone who holds the wrong idea and is therefore different for that reason. It is reassuring to ignore the importance of economics and the complications of politics, factors that might in fact be common to historical perpetrators and those who later contemplate their actions. It is far more inviting, at least today in the West, to identify with the victims than to understand the historical setting that they shared with perpetrators and bystanders in the bloodlands. The identification with the victim affirms a radical separation from the perpetrator. The Treblinka guard who starts the engine or the NKVD officer who pulls the trigger is not me, he is the person who kills someone like myself. Yet it is unclear whether this identification with victims brings much knowledge, or whether this kind of alienation from the murderer is an ethical stance. It is not at all obvious that reducing history to morality plays makes anyone moral." 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