Stalin

Posted on by

Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Kotkin continues his definitive biography of Stalin, from collectivization and the Great Terror through to the coming of the conflict with Hitler s Germany that is the signal event of modern world history.When we left Stalin at the end of Stalin Paradoxes of Power 1878 1928, it was 1928, and he had finally climbed the mountaintop and achieved dictatorial power of the Soviet empire The vastest peasant economy in the world would be transformed into socialist modernity, whatever it took What it took, or what Stalin believed it took, was the most relentless campaign of shock industrialization the world has ever seen This is the story of the five year plans, the new factory towns, and the integration of an entire system of penal labor into the larger economy With the Great Depression throwing global capital into crisis, the Soviet Union s New Man looked like nothing so much as the man of the future As the shadows of the 30 s deepen, Stalin s drive to militarize Soviet society takes on increasing urgency, and the ambition of Nazi Germany becomes the predominant geopolitical reality he faces when Hitler claims that communism is a global Judeo Bolshevik conspiracy to bring the Slavic race to power But just because they re out to get you doesn t mean you re not paranoid Stalin s paranoia is increasingly one of the most horrible facts of life for his entire country Stalin s obsessions drive him to violently purge almost a million people, including military leadership, diplomatic corps and intelligence apparatus, to say nothing of a generation of artistic talent And then came the pact that shocked the world, and demoralized leftists everywhere Stalin s pact with Hitler in 1939, the carve up of Poland, and Stalin s utter inability to see Hitler s build up to the invasion of the USSR Yet for all that, in just 12 years of total power, Stalin has taken this country from a peasant economy to a formidable modern war machine that rivaled anything else in the world When the invasion came, Stalin wasn t ready, but his country would prove to be prepared That is a dimension of the Stalin story that has never adequately been reckoned with before, and it looms large here Stalin Waiting for Hitler 1929 1941 is, like its predecessor, nothing less than a history of the world from Stalin s desk It is also, like its predecessor, a landmark achievement in the annals of its field, and in the biographer s art. Read Stalin author Stephen Kotkin – kino-fada.fr As late as 1928, a knowledgeable observer of Russian politics might assume that Josef Stalin was a rational, if not blunt, political leader He had not yet become the megalomaniac dictator who would cause millions to die for his death quotas Stephen Kotkin, in the second volume of his biographical trilogy, makes the valiant effort of balancing the story of Stalin the individual with Stalin the cold statesman Kotkin is an institutional historian when I leafed through his earlier work, Magneti As late as 1928, a knowledgeable observer of Russian politics might assume that Josef Stalin was a rational, if not blunt, political leader He had not yet become the megalomaniac dictator who would cause millions to die for his death quotas Stephen Kotkin, in the second volume of his biographical trilogy,...This is a difficult book to review One can only admire Kotkin s very close attention to archival material, extensive reading of the second hand sources, his no BS, nonsentimental approach to his study material Waiting for Hitler, at times reads like day to day account or logbook of what Stalin did between 1928 and 1941 And, for the most part, this is the main stre...I doubt that anybody will write a better orcomprehensive biography of the despot, as Kotkin calls the Soviet dictator, at least for many years to come The book will interest specialists and history enthusiasts alike It is the product of meticulous and exhaustive research and attempts to resolve several of the historical mysteries surrounding Stalin s reign Of the two, Stalin is by farimportant to world history than Lenin, and he also led ainteresting life Say what you wil I doubt that anybody will write a better orcomprehensive biography of the despot, as Kotkin calls the Soviet dictator, at least for many years to come The book will interest specialists and history enthusiasts alike It is the product of meticulous and exhaustive research and attempts to resolve several of the historical mysteries surrounding Stalin s reign Of the two, Stalin is by farimportant to world history than Lenin, and he also led ainteresting life Say what you will, but stories about ard car robbers are alwaysinteresting than those about losers, cheats, and cowards on the lam.This is the second volume of Kotkin s planned three volume biography of Stalin see Stalin Volume I Paradoxes of Power, 1878 1928 , covering his ascension to supreme Russian leader throu...Stephen Kotkin is a historian who has written several outstanding books on Russian history and is now in the process of distilling his lifetime work into a monumental three part biography of Stalin Volume 1 dealt with Stalin s early life and his progress from relatively peripheral disciple of Lenin in 1917 to Lenin s handpicked general secretary of communist party in 1922, to undisputed though not yet completely all powerful boss and ruler of the Soviet Union by 1928 By the end of that volum Stephen Kotkin is a historian who has written several outstanding books on Russian history and is now in the process of distilling his lifetime work into a monumental three part biography of Stalin Volume 1 dealt with Stalin s early life and his progress from relatively peripheral disciple of Lenin in 1917 to Lenin s handpicked general secretary of communist party in 1922, to undisputed though not yet completely all powerful boss and ruler of the Soviet Union by 1928 By the end of that volume, Stalin was firmly ensconced in this position, having successfull...Stalin Waiting For Hitler ist f r sich genommen schon ein ungeheures Werk 900 eng bedruckte Seiten plus einem 200 Seiten umfassenden Anhang in einer Schriftgr e, die eigentlich niemand mehr lesen kann Im Normaldruck w rde der Umfang des Buchs sich wohl noch mal verdoppeln Vier Minuten habe ich pro Seite gebraucht Dabei war das Historiker Englisch nicht einmal das Problem Aber konnte ich es nicht lassen, den einen oder anderen Character doch noch intensiver in der Wikipedia zu studiere Stalin Waiting For Hitler ist f r sich genommen schon ein ungeheures Werk 900 eng bedruckte Seiten plus einem 200 Seiten umfassenden Anhang in einer Schriftgr e, die eigentlich niemand mehr lesen kann Im Normaldruck w rde der Umfang des Buchs sich wohl noch mal verdoppeln Vier Minuten habe ich pro Seite gebraucht Dabei war das Historiker Englisch nicht einmal das Problem Aber konnte ich es nicht lassen, den einen oder anderen Character doch noch in...Hard going, but worth it Kotkin s attention to detail provides many revelations. and you think you have a tough boss This is the second volume of Stephen Kotkin s biography of Stalin out of a projected three volumes It is an outstanding biography and I cannot wait for the next volume.Kotkin picks up the story with the consolidation of power by Stalin and the move into the 1930s The story is one of continuing violence, terror, and depravity Stalin was one of the most accomplished killers literally with millions of victims in history and the book covers the perio and you ...I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways It is an advance uncorrected proof.My expectations were sky high for this book Eventually, over the course ofthan 1,100 pages, it met them Volume one, Stalin Volume I Paradoxes of Power, 1878 1928, was superb Here is my review of volume two The second installment of the historian Stephen Kotkin s planned three volume biography of the Soviet despot, Stalin Waiting for Hitler 1929 1941, contains an enormous amount of information from Kotkin s prodigious research The book is divided into three parts 1 the forced colle My expectations were sky high for this book Eventually, over the course ofthan 1,100 pages, it met them Volume one, Stalin Volume I Paradoxes of Power, 1878 1928, was superb Here is my review of volume two The second installment of the historian Stephen Kotkin s planned three volume biography of the Soviet despot, Stalin Waiting for Hitler 1929 1941, contains an enormous amount of information from Kotkin s prodigious research The book is divided into three parts 1 the forced collectivization of agriculture and resulting famine in the early 1930s, 2 the Great Terror, and 3 Stalin s and Hitler s decisive roles in international diplomacy in the run up to the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 Professional scholars and dedicated students of history like myself may enjoy this book, but as I climbed K...Prof Kotkin s second Stalin book can be divided into three constituent parts The first being the collectivization campaign, the second being the purge terror, the final being the diplomatic, military, and intel actions in the prelude to war with Hitler In the first, Stalin realizes that to industrialize the Soviet Union, he must have machinery from the West, and with the poor economy, selling grain is the best way to do that He also believed that industrialized agriculture, rather than the s Prof Kotkin s second Stalin book can be divided into three constituent parts The first being the collectivization campaign, the second being the purge terror, the final being the diplomatic, military, and intel actions in the prelude to war with Hitler In the first, Stalin realizes that to industrialize the Soviet Union, he must have machinery from the West, and with the poor economy, selling grain is the best way to do that He also believed that industrialized agriculture, rather than the small plot owners, was needed to boost the harvest that hadn t recovered from before the Great War This along the belief that the private property that existed in the country was a v...

Stalin
  • 10 July 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 1184 pages
  • 1594203806
  • Stephen Kotkin
  • Stalin