Stalin
A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world It has the quality of myth A poor cobbler s son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian empire, reinvents himself as a revolutionary and finds a leadership role within a small group of marginal zealots When the old world is unexpectedly brought down in a total war, the band seizes control of the country, and the new regime it founds as the vanguard of a new world order is ruthlessly dominated from within by the former seminarian until he stands as the absolute ruler of a vast and terrible state apparatus, with dominion over Eurasia But the largest country in the world is also a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides Shortly after seizing total power, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted the root and branch uprooting and collectivization of agriculture and industry across the entire Soviet Union To stand up to the capitalists he will force into being an industrialized, militarized, collectivized great power is an act of will Millions will die, and manywill suffer, but Stalin will push through to the end against all resistance and doubts Where did such power come from We think we know the story well Remarkably, Stephen Kotkin s epic new biography shows us how much we still have to learn The product of a decade of scrupulous and intrepid research, Stalin contains a host of astonishing revelations Kotkin gives an intimate first ever view of the Bolshevik regime s inner geography, bringing to the fore materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police He details Stalin s invention of a fabricated trial and mass executions as early as 1918, the technique he would later impose across the whole country The book places Stalin s momentous decision for collectivizationdeeply than ever in the tragic history of imperial Russia Above all, Kotkin offers a convincing portrait and explanation of Stalin s monstrous power and of Russian power in the world Stalin restores a sense of surprise to the way we think about the former Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself. Best Download Stalin [ author ] Stephen Kotkin [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Closed and gregarious, vindictive and solicitous, Stalin shatters any attempt to contain him within binaries He was by inclination a despot who, when he wanted to be, was utterly charming He was an ideologue who was flexibly pragmatic He fastened obsessively on slights yet he was a precocious geostrategic thinker who was, however, prone to egregious strategic blunders Stalin was as a ruler both astute and blinkered, diligent and self defeating, cynical and true believing The cold calculatio Closed and gregarious, vindictive and solicitous, Stalin shatters any attempt to contain him within binaries He was by inclination a despot who, when he wanted to be, was utterly charming He was an ideologue who was flexibly pragmatic He fastened obsessively on slights yet he was a precocious geostrategic thinker who was, however, prone to egregious strategic blunders Stalin was as a ruler both astute and blinkered, diligent and self defeating, cynical and true believing The cold calculation and the flights of absurd delusion were products of a single mind Stephen Kotkin, Stalin Paradoxes of PowerWhew Finishing this felt like an accomplishment Russia is big, in every way In her landmass, her characters, her tragedies, and her books Stephen Kotkin s Stalin has the ambition to match such a land of excess and extremes At 739 pages of text and 120 pag...Jan vankmajer, The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia, 1990 Why another book on Stalin I m no expert here and I could name a couple dozen, and the 50 pages of bibliography in the back list hundredsWhy read this new book about Stalin, in contrast to these thousands of others Writing about a man like Stalin is an onerous task We all have some image of what Stalin was or what evil was, and this might explain how evil comes about A main trend in this is some crude psychoanalysis, where some ch Jan vankmajer, The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia, 1990 Why another book on Stalin I m no expert here and I could name a couple dozen, and the 50 pages of bibliography in the back list hundredsWhy read this new book about Stalin, in contrast to these thousands of others Writing about a man like Stalin is an onerous task We all have some image of what Stalin was or what evil was, and this might explain how evil comes about A main trend in this is some crude psychoanalysis, where some childhood trauma or harsh upbringing somehow made him wholly into what he is But this makes things too easy It makes him a simple and easy caricature, where historical biographers wr...A REVIEW OF THE FIRST 300 PAGESThis is a brontosaurus no, a brachiosaurus of a book I have another 450 pages to go Time to pause and make a few notes SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE FEEBLER READERThe paperback of this 949 page book of which 210 pages are notes and index is quite heavy Because of its size the printers have thoughtfully made the spine superstrong with a double layer of excellent glue so that it does not fall apart Unfortunately this means you have to grip the book firmly with bot A REVIEW OF THE FIRST 300 PAGESThis is a brontosaurus no, a brachiosaurus of a book I have another 450 pages to go Time to pause and make a few notes SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE FEEBLER READERThe paperback of this 949 page book of which 210 pages are notes and index is quite heavy Because of its size the printers have thoughtfully made the spine superstrong with a double layer of excellent glue so that it does not fall apart Unfortunately this means you have to grip the book firmly with both hands to stop it snapping shut all the time You would have to be King Kong to bend it open to the point where it would stay open So this poses a challenge I have tried balancing ...I do not follow debates among academic professional historians Nonetheless I suspect that the first volume of Kotkin s biography of Stalin must be generating a torrent of comment among specialists who care about such topics.It seems to me that in volume one Kotkin has already managed to demolish Robert Tucker s biography altogether as well as the biographical narratives of scores of others, whom I designate name callers, liberals and right wingers only too eager to abandon historical anal I do not follow debates among academic professional historians Nonetheless I suspect that the first volume of Kotkin s biography of Stalin must be generating a torrent of comment among specialists who care about such topics.It seems to me that in volume one Kotkin has already managed to demolish Robert Tucker s biography altogether as well as the biographical narratives of scores of others, whom I designate name callers, liberals and right wingers only too eager to abandon historical analysis in order to furnish the materials of Cold War propaganda I have long thought that the world doesn t need another biographer of Stalin who believes that he has exhausted the subject through seemingly endless and ultimately boring iterations of such words as monster, monstrous, fiend, fiendish, ghoul, sociopath, psychopath, etc., etc None of this sanctimonious ...Unfortunately I have not been able to really concentrate or delve too deeply into this book because I have a huge editing job that has occupied a lot of my time But I am so delighted because I have been looking for a definitive biography of Joseph Stalin for several years The author is obviously steeped in Russian history He gives a detailed background on the peoples and politics of Russia which is really helpful in providing a real perspective of Stalin s thinking and motives for a lot of hi Unfortunately I have not been able to really concentrate or delve too deeply into this book because I have a huge editing job that has occupied a lot of my time But I am so delighted because I have been looking for a definitive biography of Joseph Stalin for several years The author is obviously steeped in Russian history He gives a detailed background on the peoples and politics of Russia which is really helpful in providing a real perspective of Stalin s thinking and motives for a lot of his behavior This is really such a fascinating story I was so engrossed I actually spilled an entire cup of coffee onto page twenty three I missed my mouth Pages twenty, twenty one, twenty two and twenty three are completely ruined The text it totally illeg...This is killing my reading groove this year so I m throwing in the towel at 80% I ve been spoiled by historical writers like Erik Larson and Ron Chernow who turn facts into stories that come alive This readslike an undergraduate term paper Solid facts boring as hell.I wish the writing was as fascinating as the material Stalin was an interesting dude Anyone who travels with nothing but clothes, books, and a typewriter I can dig it Of course, the murder and pedophilia were somewhat This is killing my reading groove this year so I m throwing in the towel at 80% I ve been spoiled by historical writers like Erik Larson and Ron Chernow who turn facts into stories that come alive This readslike an undergraduate term paper Solid facts boring as hell.I wish the writing was as fascinating as the material Stalin was an interesting dude Anyone who travels with nothing but clothes, books, and a typewriter I can dig it Of course, the murder and pedophilia were somewhat les...Leon Trotsky, after being expelled from the Communist Party in 1928, and finding himself in an increasingly desperate exile, shaped the perception of his old rival through his prolific writing Trotsky established the image of Stalin as a sinister mediocrity, who nonetheless outmaneuvered Trotsky through his utter lack of scruples In truth, as Kotkin shows, Stalin was an autodidact, a people person with surpassing organizational abilities a mammoth appetite for work, and a strategic mind, Leon Trotsky, after being expelled from the Communist Party in 1928, and finding himself in an increasingly desperate exile, shaped the perception of his old rival through his prolific writing Trotsky established the image of Stalin as a sinister mediocrity, who nonetheless outmaneuvered Trotsky through his utter lack of scruples In truth, a...I learned about this book from Anne Applebaum s excellent article in The Atlantic it s the first volume of a planned trilogy, which has all the potential to become the definite work on Stalin You can read Applebaum s article hereAn accomplished poet, a pious divinity student, a highly cultured autodidact with broad intellectual interests and an expert knowledge of classical music a bank robber, an extortionist, a meteorologist, a union organiser, factory worker, an agitator, and an oil rig operator It was said that his voice, in the church choir, could bring hardened men to tears A political theorist a prolific, if unoriginal, polemicist an escaped convicttimes than I could count , a father of innumerable il An accomplished poet, a pious divinity student, a highly cultured autodidact with broad intellectual interests and an expert knowledge of classical music a bank robber, an extortionist, a meteorologist, a union organiser, factory worker, an agitator, and an oil rig operator It was said that his voice, in the church choir, could bring hardened men to tears A political theorist a prolific, if unoriginal, polemicist an escaped convicttimes than I could count , a father of innumerable illegitimate children each with a different woman , an effective military leader, a loyal follower a flexible strategist who felt no compunction about taking up the position of a rival he had assassinated, on idealogical grounds, the day before A doting and loving husband first marriage , a chauvinistic and despotic husband second marriage , a negligent and hard h...This book is not solely about Stalin Stalin is simply the medium This book is Kotkin s final thesis on late 19th century Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union Its Kotkin s definitive say on Russian historiography and it expresses his worldview ideology which is classically liberal He is against all dictatorships apart from the dictatorship of liberal democracy Did I read this book in three days Of course not, how could I What I read was theinteresting features and controversies of S This book is not solely about Stalin Stalin is simply the medium This book is Kotkin s final thesis on late 19th century Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union Its Kotkin s definitive say on Russian historiography and it expresses his worldview ideology which is classically liberal He is against all dictatorships apart from the dictatorship of liberal democracy Did I read this book in three days Of course not, how could I What I read was theinteresting features and controversies of Stalin s early life before 1917 and his consolidation of power Kotkin spends the first 400 pages not only dealing with Stalin s early life but mostly explaining the geopolitics an...a great and pretty balanced bio of stalin s early life and rise to power mitigated only a little bit by a weird afterword where the author makes some weird judgements on communist ideology as a whole that seem to badly mi...Ambitious in scale, this is the first of a 3 volume long Stalin biography.I came across the book because I watched lectures from professor Kotkin on Russia and instantly got hooked on the subject of this book.Not being that familiar with Russian history, I appreciated Kotkin s approach which is to tell Stalin s life as it was through the developments of relevant world events of his time in parts of the book, he is often completely omitted and the focus is usually about geopolitics or communism Ambitious in scale, this is the first of a 3 volume long Stalin biography.I came across the book because I watched lectures from professor Kotkin on Russia and instantly got hooked on the subject of this book.Not being that familiar with Russian history, I appreciated Kotkin s approach which is to tell Stalin s life as it was through the developments of relevant world events of his time in parts of the book, he is often completely omitted and the focus is usually abo...Superb first volume of a projected three volume series.Most people who have read anything at all about modern political and military history know about Stalin It is also likely that what they know about him is not very good Indeed, he well known as one of the most terrible tyrants of all time, the essential totalitarian dictator, and the man behind the deaths of millions At the same time, he led his nation through WW2 and kept the Nazis from winning while the US prepared its entry and the UK Superb first volume of a projected three volume series.Most people who have read anything at all about modern political and military history know about Stalin It is also likely that what they know about him is not very good Indeed, he well known as one of the most terrible tyrants of all time, the essential totalitarian dictator, and the man behind the deaths of millions At the same time, he led his nation through WW2 and kept the Nazis from winning while the US prepared its entry and the UK recovered from its early defeats Stalin was also the master architect on the Russian side of the Cold War and helped to structure superpower relations long after his death until the end of the Soviet Union.It always struck me as strange that this enormously influential person has been largely characterized in cartoonish stereotypes of evil andthan a little pseudo psychologizing That seems too easy a way to come to grips with who this person really was.St...I want to keep this short there are a lot of good, substantive review out there I d just like to mention a couple of takeaways I had from the bookOne Kotkin does a good job of illuminating Stalin the man He may not be the most pleasant example of a human being, but he is recognizable as one I know worse examples.Two the amount of leaves in this book makes it hard to see the trees, let alone the forest I m sure it wasn t Kotkin s intention, but all this focus on detail seems to sanitize the p I want to keep this short there are a lot of good, substantive review out there I d just like to mention a couple of takeaways I had from the bookOne Kotkin does a good job of illuminating Stalin the man He may not be the most pleasant example of a human being, but he is recognizable as one I know worse examples.Two the amount of leaves in this book makes it hard to see the trees, let alone the forest I m sure it wasn t Kotkin s intention, but all this focus on detail seems to sanitize the period He does not spend time highlighting the horrible events of this period of which I m than...
- 07 December 2017 Stephen Kotkin
- Hardcover
- 976 pages
- 1594203792
- Stephen Kotkin
- Stalin