Stalin: a biograpy / Robert Service

By: Service, Robert, 1947- [author]
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : The Belknap Press, c2004Description: xviii, 715[24]pages of plates : illustrations 24 cmContent type: text Media type: rdamedia Carrier type: volumeISBN: 0674016971; 9780674016972Subject(s): Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953 | Heads of state -- Soviet Union -- Biography | Soviet Union -- History -- 1925-1953DDC classification: 947.0841092
Contents:
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.
Summary: "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.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Item type Current location Home library Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
BOOK BOOK COLLEGE LIBRARY
COLLEGE LIBRARY
SUBJECT REFERENCE 		947.0841092 Se695 2004 (Browse shelf) Available CITU-CL-42853
Total holds: 0

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.

There are no comments for this item.

to post a comment.