Fascinating essay about a landmark pair of books. Thanks for posting. I'll argue another option on one key quote, though.

> What Stalingrad demonstrated was precisely that the unfreedom of the Soviet Union, as terrible as it was, was different from that of Nazi Germany or for that matter of the West precisely because it was more historically generative, more potent. >

Not quite. What Stalingrad demonstrated is that people faced with annihilation on their own soil will fight harder than a supposed conquering army more than 1,000 miles beyond its legitimate national boundaries.

This lesson keeps being retaught -- somewhere in the world -- every decade or so. Perhaps even more often.