Stalin : new biography of a dictator / Oleg V. Khlevniuk ; translated by Nora S. Favorov.

  • Khlevni︠u︡k, O. V. (Oleg Vitalʹevich)
Date:
2015
  • Books

About this work

Description

Joseph Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. During that quarter-century, by Oleg Khlevniuk's estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin's policies. What drove him toward such ruthlessness? This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that left long-lasting scars on the peoples over which he ruled and altered the course of world history.--Adapted from book jacket.

Publication/Creation

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2015.

Physical description

xvi, 392 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Preface: The seats of Stalin's power -- Before the Revolution -- The bulwarks of Stalin's power -- In Lenin's shadow -- A world of reading and contemplation -- His Revolution -- Trepidation in the inner circle -- Terror and impending war -- Patient number 1 -- Stalin at war -- Family -- The Generalissimo -- The dictatorship collapses -- The funeral : the vozhd, the system, and the people.

Language note

Translated from the Russian.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    BZP (Stalin)
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9780300163889
  • 0300163886