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Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century (Course Guidebook)
Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Tennessee. He earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from the University from Pennsylvania.
169 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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168 people want to read
About the author
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
23 books85 followersDistinguished Professor in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences
Biography
Professor Liulevicius specializes in modern German history, with a particular focus on German relations with Eastern Europe. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Peace, and Revolution from 1994-95. He has taught at the University of Tennessee since 1995. From 2008 to 2021, he served as the director of the Center for the Study of War and Society.
Biography
Professor Liulevicius specializes in modern German history, with a particular focus on German relations with Eastern Europe. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Peace, and Revolution from 1994-95. He has taught at the University of Tennessee since 1995. From 2008 to 2021, he served as the director of the Center for the Study of War and Society.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
January 12, 2024
This 24 lecture course is the fifth (five, wow!) Great Course that I have taken from Professor Gabriel Liulevicius. I wouldn't take that many courses from a subpar professor, so my opinion of his earlier courses is pretty high. Professor Liulevicius has a great voice for presenting material and is easy to listen to and understand, so he gets high marks for his delivery. For audio books that is a must have!!
I would rate this course 3.5 stars, but it's closer to a three than a four star course for me. Why? The title of the course is on Utopia and Terror, and I guess I would have liked a little more of the lectures to be focused on the utopian ideas about society. Professor Liulevicius mentions Thomas More's "Utopia" in the first lecture but then drops the idea of utopian societies out of the rest of the following lectures to focus on the societies that produced terror. It is true that France under the Revolution and Stalin thought that they were producing governments that were based on utopian ideals, and Professor Liulevicius does go into this, I guess I had a hard time thinking about them in a way that doesn't bring to mind their excesses of violence. I would have liked for the Professor to discuss maybe some American utopian societies, such as flourished briefly in the mid-1800's and why societies founded on utopian principals don't work out.
The professor spend most of the lectures discussing Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin. The lectures about Stalin were quite good, but this is well covered ground and I had learned most of this already. The lectures that were the most enjoyable for me were towards the end of the course. Professor Liulevicius has a lecture each on Cambodia in the 70's, Rwanda in the 90's, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein. These lectures were fascinating because the professor explained what each of these regimes were trying to do in their countries and how they went about it. This information was less familiar to me, and was well presented.
Professor Liulevicius's courses are something I found worthwhile and have learned a great deal from. This one was not as impressive for me as some of his other ones. Here is how I would rank the courses that I have finished from him so far.
1. World War I-The Great War
2. Turning Points in Modern History
3. History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration
4. Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century
5. The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin
I would rate this course 3.5 stars, but it's closer to a three than a four star course for me. Why? The title of the course is on Utopia and Terror, and I guess I would have liked a little more of the lectures to be focused on the utopian ideas about society. Professor Liulevicius mentions Thomas More's "Utopia" in the first lecture but then drops the idea of utopian societies out of the rest of the following lectures to focus on the societies that produced terror. It is true that France under the Revolution and Stalin thought that they were producing governments that were based on utopian ideals, and Professor Liulevicius does go into this, I guess I had a hard time thinking about them in a way that doesn't bring to mind their excesses of violence. I would have liked for the Professor to discuss maybe some American utopian societies, such as flourished briefly in the mid-1800's and why societies founded on utopian principals don't work out.
The professor spend most of the lectures discussing Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin. The lectures about Stalin were quite good, but this is well covered ground and I had learned most of this already. The lectures that were the most enjoyable for me were towards the end of the course. Professor Liulevicius has a lecture each on Cambodia in the 70's, Rwanda in the 90's, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein. These lectures were fascinating because the professor explained what each of these regimes were trying to do in their countries and how they went about it. This information was less familiar to me, and was well presented.
Professor Liulevicius's courses are something I found worthwhile and have learned a great deal from. This one was not as impressive for me as some of his other ones. Here is how I would rank the courses that I have finished from him so far.
1. World War I-The Great War
2. Turning Points in Modern History
3. History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration
4. Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century
5. The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin
January 13, 2024
Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century was another excellent offering from The Great Courses.
Course Professor Dr. Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius is Lindsay Young Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, according to his bio page on The Great Courses website.
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius :
Professor Liulevicius has a great teaching style. I've been following him for a few years, and have taken 4 other of his previous courses. He presents in an easy, and engaging manner, which is a welcome change from some of his contemporaries over at The Great Courses; who often tend to drone on monotonously for the duration.
The formatting of this course is fairly typical of offerings by The Great Courses. The content is split into 24 lectures in this case; each ~30 mins long.
The lectures presented here are:
1. Defining Utopia and Terror
2. The Legacy of Revolutions
3. Omens of Conflict
4. World War I
5. Total War—Mobilization and Mass Death
6. Total Revolution in Russia
7. War's Aftermath—The Hinge of Violence
8. Communism
9. Stalin
10. Soviet Civilization
11. Fascism
12. The 1930's—The "Low Dishonest Decade"
13. Nazism
14. Hitler
15. World War II
16. Nazi Genocide and Master Plans
17. The Cold War
18. Mao
19. Cambodia and Pol Pot's Killing Fields
20. East Germany, the Soviet Union, North Korea
21. From the Berlin Wall to the Balkans
22. Rwanda
23. Saddam Hussein's Iraq
24. The Future of Terror
Liulevicius covers this broad swath of subject matter well, and gives the viewer a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact telling. Meant as a primer to each topic, he effectively sums up the main bullet points of each lecture well. Supplemental reading material is recommended in the accompanying course guidebook.
One small bone of contention I had here was with the last lecture, "The Future of Terror." The course is circa 2003, just hot off the heels of 9/11, and the invasion of Afghanistan. Liulevicius mentions the emerging threat from "Islam-ist" terrorism, and tries to delineate "Islam-ism" from Islam. He says that the "ism" notes the political aims of "extremists." He really needs to understand the ideology and religion better, bc this is a terrible take. There is no "Islam-ism." It's all just Islam. Islam is an inherently political ideology. The "isms" and "ists" are redundant.
Now, how many Muslims actually subscribe to a supremacist ideation of their religion is another discussion. Like any religion or ideology, there are strict adherents, lax adherents, and everyone else in the middle along that spectrum. However, polls compiled show that support for Islamic Jihad, even among Muslims living in Western countries is perhaps a lot higher than you might think.
Also, the Islamic concept of (the lesser) Jihad; that is - advancing Islam through the pen, the sword, the spoken word, or money, has sometimes been referred to as "the 6th pillar of Islam."
*********************
Despite my relatively minor gripe above, I did really enjoy this course. It covers a lot of ground in a very effective manner. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
5 stars.
Course Professor Dr. Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius is Lindsay Young Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, according to his bio page on The Great Courses website.
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius :
Professor Liulevicius has a great teaching style. I've been following him for a few years, and have taken 4 other of his previous courses. He presents in an easy, and engaging manner, which is a welcome change from some of his contemporaries over at The Great Courses; who often tend to drone on monotonously for the duration.
The formatting of this course is fairly typical of offerings by The Great Courses. The content is split into 24 lectures in this case; each ~30 mins long.
The lectures presented here are:
1. Defining Utopia and Terror
2. The Legacy of Revolutions
3. Omens of Conflict
4. World War I
5. Total War—Mobilization and Mass Death
6. Total Revolution in Russia
7. War's Aftermath—The Hinge of Violence
8. Communism
9. Stalin
10. Soviet Civilization
11. Fascism
12. The 1930's—The "Low Dishonest Decade"
13. Nazism
14. Hitler
15. World War II
16. Nazi Genocide and Master Plans
17. The Cold War
18. Mao
19. Cambodia and Pol Pot's Killing Fields
20. East Germany, the Soviet Union, North Korea
21. From the Berlin Wall to the Balkans
22. Rwanda
23. Saddam Hussein's Iraq
24. The Future of Terror
Liulevicius covers this broad swath of subject matter well, and gives the viewer a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact telling. Meant as a primer to each topic, he effectively sums up the main bullet points of each lecture well. Supplemental reading material is recommended in the accompanying course guidebook.
One small bone of contention I had here was with the last lecture, "The Future of Terror." The course is circa 2003, just hot off the heels of 9/11, and the invasion of Afghanistan. Liulevicius mentions the emerging threat from "Islam-ist" terrorism, and tries to delineate "Islam-ism" from Islam. He says that the "ism" notes the political aims of "extremists." He really needs to understand the ideology and religion better, bc this is a terrible take. There is no "Islam-ism." It's all just Islam. Islam is an inherently political ideology. The "isms" and "ists" are redundant.
Now, how many Muslims actually subscribe to a supremacist ideation of their religion is another discussion. Like any religion or ideology, there are strict adherents, lax adherents, and everyone else in the middle along that spectrum. However, polls compiled show that support for Islamic Jihad, even among Muslims living in Western countries is perhaps a lot higher than you might think.
Also, the Islamic concept of (the lesser) Jihad; that is - advancing Islam through the pen, the sword, the spoken word, or money, has sometimes been referred to as "the 6th pillar of Islam."
*********************
Despite my relatively minor gripe above, I did really enjoy this course. It covers a lot of ground in a very effective manner. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
5 stars.
April 30, 2022
After reading Thomas More’s Utopia this lecture series was a great follow up to see how the ideology was applied during the 20th century.
February 25, 2025
Fascinating and clear. A vitally important listen in the Trump 2.0 era !
June 27, 2013
These 24 (30 minute) lectures (audio only) reviewed the conflicts of the 20th century with an eye toward the causes or attempts to create perfect societies (utopias) and the methods by which they attempted to bring it to fruition (terror). The course reflects on the unbelievable violence and destruction brought on by the ideologies in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, with emphasis on the dictatorships in Germany, Russia (USSR), Italy, China, Cambodia, the Balkans and Rwanda (remembering that the winners write the history). While these lectures are a great review of some key events in the 20th century, it is incredibly depressing to realize that 40 million soldiers died in the 2 world wars, and a staggering 170 million civilians also perished in the conflict (many for suffering the crime of wearing glasses).
If you want to learn a bit more history or the 20th century from an articulate and entertaining professor, I highly recommend these lectures.
If you want to learn a bit more history or the 20th century from an articulate and entertaining professor, I highly recommend these lectures.
October 15, 2019
I really liked this one, probably more than I should have. It's hard to get really in-depth information in a series of 30-45 minute lectures, but Liulevicius does an amazing job. I felt like I knew more coming out of this lecture series than going into it, and that's always what you want for something like this. I was also captivated by the topic itself, and how far people are willing to go to realize their utopic vision. This kind of subject matter is basically my jam. I love stuff like this, and Liulevicius did a wonderful job.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
January 17, 2018
Góð umfjöllun um útópíur 20. aldar og hvernig leiðtogar slíkra samfélaga skilgreindu terror eða grimmdarverk sem nauðsynlegan þátt í að hrinda slíkum draumaríkjum í framkvæmd. Liulevicius fer yfir marga af helstu harðstjórum síðustu aldar og alræðisríki sem flest eiga það sameiginlegt að hafa viljað stofna fyrirmyndarríki eftir að hafa þurrkað burt óæskilega einstaklinga og innrætt restina.
February 9, 2022
Liulevicius is quickly becoming one of my go-to, "whatever he's talking about must be interesting" lecturers. This course, examining totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, covers a lot of ground and proved to be another highly interesting and informative listen on a fascinating topic.
December 21, 2022
Excellent!
August 3, 2020
A hard look at communism, socialism, nazism, fascism, all those -isms that deny human nature in pursuit of utopia.
Refreshingly free of apologetics.
Refreshingly free of apologetics.
October 5, 2018
Perhaps it deserved more than three stars as I think this is a very good introduction to the subject. Speaking for myself, I was disappointed in how little new I encountered here. I've been over this ground before.
Oh well, it was a perfectly good review of the subject, though it could really stand some updating. Unfortunately, history is moved on since two 2003. It would be interesting to know what the Professor had to say about the aftermath of the removal of Saddam Hussein. As horrible as his regime was, it could be argued that its removal was not done with the best of motives and its results were far from optimal. The so-called Islamic State could've been a whole lecture onto itself though then he'd have to work "and early 21st Century," into the title of the series.
Oh well, it was a perfectly good review of the subject, though it could really stand some updating. Unfortunately, history is moved on since two 2003. It would be interesting to know what the Professor had to say about the aftermath of the removal of Saddam Hussein. As horrible as his regime was, it could be argued that its removal was not done with the best of motives and its results were far from optimal. The so-called Islamic State could've been a whole lecture onto itself though then he'd have to work "and early 21st Century," into the title of the series.
August 4, 2020
A really great class. Utopia and Terror dives into the atrocities of the 20th century (the terror) and how they were all paradoxically linked towards the goal of progress (the utopia). Going in, it felt almost a little cliche to begin the series - we all know "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". But the cliche wears off after telling vivid story after vivid story, with history echoing and rhyming - and in some instances, purposefully mimicking - the past. I feel more enlightened in how I think about utopian and panacea-ic responses to problems in society today. And, I believe this is correct, this course was filmed around the early 2000s before we knew that the Iraq War was a mess based on false premises. Even so, it felt shockingly relevant today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2017
What a fantastic lecture series. The professor was a great orator and very knowledgeable and delivered his messages well.
This series gave a frightening look into the relationship between the search for a utopian society and the barbarism and terror that is used to get to nirvana. Some of this book was truly horrifying...what people can do to other people is almost beyond comprehension. And when you get all this "bad" news at once, the listener wonders how it was all possible, allowed to happen, not stopped....
A really powerful series that should be compulsory for al politicians and students. Maybe if we all know about this then we can make sure it doesn't keep happening
This series gave a frightening look into the relationship between the search for a utopian society and the barbarism and terror that is used to get to nirvana. Some of this book was truly horrifying...what people can do to other people is almost beyond comprehension. And when you get all this "bad" news at once, the listener wonders how it was all possible, allowed to happen, not stopped....
A really powerful series that should be compulsory for al politicians and students. Maybe if we all know about this then we can make sure it doesn't keep happening
July 18, 2019
Fascinating lecture series. Combining script and ad-lib, Prof. Liulevicius is an engaging speaker who brings clarity, tangibility, and wit to the subject of world history. Using a sort of meta-political science, he shows how similar paradigms and approaches appear in a variety of geographic, political, and ethnic contexts. While each dictatorship takes on its own character shaped by leadership personalities and cultural norms, no country or regime has a particularly unique approach to cruelty. And so we find comparable patterns of terror, oppression, and persecution arising in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
April 6, 2020
(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
It was a new, helpful insight for me to recognize how often terrorists have been driven by utopian dreams.
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
It was a new, helpful insight for me to recognize how often terrorists have been driven by utopian dreams.
October 5, 2020
I do not agree with a lot of his analysis concerning TOTAL etc. He may have gotten Total War right but after that he just does not see nuance. He is not much of an original thinker, just a playback prof, and his book choices are questionable: outside of Hoffer's True Believer, his bibliography are rather dull books and mainly derivative of the great Gustave LeBon -- which he never mentions once. I found that rather striking. As a review of the lectures the book is good, just the bibliography is lacklustre. His rise to communism refutes some of the opinions in this lecture but is later lesson and correct.
July 18, 2021
This one came very close to getting a fifth star. Having recently finish Ritchie Robertson’s “The Enlightenment,” this book on the totalitarians that have sprung up in the Enlightenment should cause us all to think very carefully on availing ourselves of all the “progress” that has been made since Enlightenment thinkers seemed to have torn us away from the Christian roots that has made it all possible. Just the numbers of human beings that have been killed on the alter of “cleaning house” so that regimes could start fresh are disturbing.
December 20, 2021
A look at totalitarian regimes in the 20th Century. The Lecturer is quickly becoming one of my favorite Great Courses lecturers, as he is concise, informative, doesn't add politics to the discussion, and never sugar coats. This was not a happy group of lectures and while I didnt learn a lot from his Nazi/Communist lectures I did on the subsequent ones like Cambodia and Yugoslavia.
This is all you could want from a Great Courses series, a good enjoyable teacher with solid information.
Strongly recommended.
This is all you could want from a Great Courses series, a good enjoyable teacher with solid information.
Strongly recommended.
February 9, 2022
I feel very strongly that this should be required learning for everyone. Understanding how dictators rose to power and justified unimaginable horrors in the name of creating a new, better, more scientific society is critical. This is probably the most important set of lectures I have listed too.
August 26, 2019
Good Overview
April 10, 2020
Too superficial
April 28, 2020
This was an excellent series about how the search for utopias has often led to dictatorships built on terror and created problematic situations for people. Covers a wide array of examples.
July 12, 2021
Great idea for comparisons across 20th century authoritarian movements.
July 20, 2021
pretty basic
August 2, 2021
A bit dry, I'd love to see an updated version.
April 4, 2022
Good overview of fascism and communism that turns into very thin overviews of totalitarian states outside that scope.
April 21, 2022
The subjects are too ambitious for the length of the lectures. The conclusions are poorly supported and lack critical thought.
April 23, 2022
A must-read for 2022.
June 2, 2022
Essential for anyone wanting to better understand tyranny, autocracy, dictatorships, and also terrorism. One of the Great Courses' best.
August 19, 2022
Superb!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews