Service, Robert, 1947-
Stalin: a biograpy / Robert Service - xviii, 715[24]pages of plates : illustrations 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
pt. 1. The revolutionary. --
Stalin as we have known him --
The family Dzhughashvili --
The schooling of a priest --
Poet and rebel --
Marxist militant --
The party and the Caucasus --
On the run --
At the centre of the party --
Koba and Bolshevism --
Osip of Siberia --
Return to Petrograd --
pt. 2. Leader for the party. --
The year 1917 --
October --
People's Commissar --
To the front! --
The Polish corridor --
With Lenin --
Nation and revolution --
Testament --
The opportunities of struggle --
Joseph and Nadya --
Factionalist against factions --
pt. 3. Despot. --
Ending the NEP --
Terror-economics --
Ascent to supremacy --
The death of Nadya --
Modernity's sorcerer --
Fears in victory --
Ruling the nations --
Mind of terror --
The great terrorist --
The cult of impersonality --
Brutal reprieve --
pt. 4. Warlord. --
The world in sight --
Approaches to war --
The devils SUP --
Barbarossa --
Fighting on --
Sleeping on the divan --
To the death! --
Supreme commander --
The big three --
Last campaigns --
Victory! --
pt. 5. The imperator. --
Delivering the blow --
The outbreak of the Cold War --
Subjugating Eastern Europe --
Stalinist rulership --
Policies and purges --
Emperor worship --
Dangerous liaisons --
Vozhd and intellectual --
Ailing despot --
Death and embalming --
After Stalin.
"Overthrowing 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."--BOOK JACKET.
0674016971 9780674016972
Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953
Heads of state--Biography--Soviet Union
Soviet Union--History--1925-1953
947.0841092
Stalin: a biograpy / Robert Service - xviii, 715[24]pages of plates : illustrations 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
pt. 1. The revolutionary. --
Stalin as we have known him --
The family Dzhughashvili --
The schooling of a priest --
Poet and rebel --
Marxist militant --
The party and the Caucasus --
On the run --
At the centre of the party --
Koba and Bolshevism --
Osip of Siberia --
Return to Petrograd --
pt. 2. Leader for the party. --
The year 1917 --
October --
People's Commissar --
To the front! --
The Polish corridor --
With Lenin --
Nation and revolution --
Testament --
The opportunities of struggle --
Joseph and Nadya --
Factionalist against factions --
pt. 3. Despot. --
Ending the NEP --
Terror-economics --
Ascent to supremacy --
The death of Nadya --
Modernity's sorcerer --
Fears in victory --
Ruling the nations --
Mind of terror --
The great terrorist --
The cult of impersonality --
Brutal reprieve --
pt. 4. Warlord. --
The world in sight --
Approaches to war --
The devils SUP --
Barbarossa --
Fighting on --
Sleeping on the divan --
To the death! --
Supreme commander --
The big three --
Last campaigns --
Victory! --
pt. 5. The imperator. --
Delivering the blow --
The outbreak of the Cold War --
Subjugating Eastern Europe --
Stalinist rulership --
Policies and purges --
Emperor worship --
Dangerous liaisons --
Vozhd and intellectual --
Ailing despot --
Death and embalming --
After Stalin.
"Overthrowing 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."--BOOK JACKET.
0674016971 9780674016972
Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953
Heads of state--Biography--Soviet Union
Soviet Union--History--1925-1953
947.0841092