Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator

An engrossing biography of the infamous Russian dictator by an writer whose information of Soviet-era archives far surpasses all others.

Josef Stalin exercised supreme energy within the Soviet Union from 1929 till his dying in 1953. Throughout that quarter-century, by Oleg Khlevniuk’s estimate, he brought about the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than one million Soviet residents per 12 months. Hundreds of thousands extra have been victims of famine straight ensuing from Stalin’s insurance policies. What drove him towards such ruthlessness? This important biography gives an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin the person and dictator. With out mythologizing Stalin as both benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves quite a few controversies about particular occasions within the dictator’s life whereas assembling many tons of of beforehand unknown letters, memos, experiences, and diaries right into a complete, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world historical past.
 
In short, revealing prologues to every chapter, Khlevniuk takes his reader into Stalin’s favourite dacha, the place the innermost circle of Soviet management gathered as their vozhd lay dying. Chronological chapters then illuminate main themes: Stalin’s childhood, his involvement within the Revolution and the early Bolshevik authorities underneath Lenin, his assumption of undivided energy and mandate for industrialization and collectivization, the Terror, World Struggle II, and the postwar interval. On the guide’s conclusion, the writer presents a cogent warning in opposition to nostalgia for the Stalinist period. 

“This sensible, authoritative, opinionated biography ranks as the most effective on Stalin in any language.”—Martin McCauley East-West Evaluation

“A historiographical and literary masterpiece.”—Mark Edele, Australian E-book Evaluation

“A really digestible biography, but one filled with revelations.”—Paul E. Richardson, Russian Life Journal