Stalin: A BiographyOverthrowing the conventional image of Stalin as an uneducated political administrator inexplicably transformed into a pathological killer, Robert Service reveals a more complex and fascinating story behind this notorious twentieth-century figure. Drawing on unexplored archives and personal testimonies gathered from across Russia and Georgia, this is the first full-scale biography of the Soviet dictator in twenty years. Service describes in unprecedented detail the first half of Stalin's life--his childhood in Georgia as the son of a violent, drunkard father and a devoted mother; his education and religious training; and his political activity as a young revolutionary. No mere messenger for Lenin, Stalin was a prominent activist long before the Russian Revolution. Equally compelling is the depiction of Stalin as Soviet leader. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. And his conviction that enemies surrounded him was not entirely unfounded. Stalin was not just a vengeful dictator but also a man fascinated by ideas and a voracious reader of Marxist doctrine and Russian and Georgian literature as well as an internationalist committed to seeing Russia assume a powerful role on the world stage. In examining the multidimensional legacy of Stalin, Service helps explain why later would-be reformers--such as Khrushchev and Gorbachev--found the Stalinist legacy surprisingly hard to dislodge. Rather than diminishing the horrors of Stalinism, this is an account all the more disturbing for presenting a believable human portrait. Service's lifetime engagement with Soviet Russia has resulted in the most comprehensive and compelling portrayal of Stalin to date. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - setnahkt - LibraryThingAlexander Solzhenitsyn commented that Nazism was worse than Communism, but Stalin was worse than Hitler (it could have been the other way around; I don’t have a copy of The Gulag Archipelago handy to ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - xuebi - LibraryThingService's biography of Stalin is an excellent treatment of one of history's most notorious figures. Well written and researched, Service charts Stalin's life from Georgia in his youth to his death as ... Read full review
Contents
STALIN AS WE HAVE KNOWN HIM | 3 |
THE FAMILY DZHUGHASHVILI | 13 |
THE SCHOOLING OF A PRIEST | 23 |
POET AND REBEL | 32 |
MARXIST MILITANT | 43 |
THE PARTY AND THE CAUCASUS | 56 |
ON THE RUN | 68 |
AT THE CENTRE OF THE PARTY | 81 |
THE GREAT TERRORIST | 346 |
THE CULT OF IMPERSONALITY | 357 |
BRUTAL REPRIEVE | 367 |
WARLORD | 377 |
THE WORLD IN SIGHT | 379 |
APPROACHES TO WAR | 390 |
THE DEVILS SUP | 399 |
BARBAROSSA | 410 |
KOBA AND BOLSHEVISM | 92 |
OSIP OF SIBERIA | 102 |
RETURN TO PETROGRAD | 113 |
LEADER FOR THE PARTY | 125 |
THE YEAR 1917 | 127 |
OCTOBER | 140 |
PEOPLES COMMISSAR | 150 |
TO THE FRONT | 163 |
THE POLISH CORRIDOR | 175 |
WITH LENIN | 186 |
NATION AND REVOLUTION | 197 |
TESTAMENT | 208 |
THE OPPORTUNITIES OF STRUGGLE | 219 |
JOSEPH AND NADYA | 230 |
FACTIONALIST AGAINST FACTIONS | 240 |
DESPOT | 251 |
ENDING THE NEP | 253 |
TERRORECONOMICS | 265 |
ASCENT TO SUPREMACY | 276 |
THE DEATH OF NADYA | 289 |
MODERNITYS SORCERER | 299 |
FEARS IN VICTORY | 310 |
RULING THE NATIONS | 323 |
MIND OF TERROR | 336 |
FIGHTING ON | 420 |
SLEEPING ON THE DIVAN | 430 |
TO THE DEATH | 439 |
SUPREME COMMANDER | 449 |
THE BIG THREE | 459 |
LAST CAMPAIGNS | 469 |
VICTORY | 478 |
THE IMPERATOR | 489 |
DELIVERING THE BLOW | 491 |
THE OUTBREAK OF THE COLD WAR | 501 |
SUBJUGATING EASTERN EUROPE | 511 |
STALINIST RULERSHIP | 521 |
POLICIES AND PURGES | 531 |
EMPEROR WORSHIP | 541 |
DANGEROUS LIAISONS | 551 |
VOZHD AND INTELLECTUAL | 560 |
AILING DESPOT | 571 |
DEATH AND EMBALMING | 581 |
AFTER STALIN | 591 |
Glossary | 605 |
Notes | 608 |
Select Bibliography | 661 |
681 | |