A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world
The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement. Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. We see a man inclined to despotism who could be utterly charming; a pragmatic ideologue; a leader who obsessed over slights yet was a precocious geostrategic thinker-unique among Bolsheviks-and yet who made egregious strategic blunders. Through it all, we see Stalin's unflinching persistence, his sheer force of will-perhaps the ultimate key to understanding his indelible mark on history. Drawing on Kotkin's exhaustive study of Soviet archival materials as well as vast scholarly literature, Stalin recasts the way we think about the Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself.
- ISBN10 0143127861
- ISBN13 9780143127864
- Publish Date 13 October 2015 (first published 6 November 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint Penguin USA
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 976
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143127864