Stalin : The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia'sSecret Archives

by Edvard Radzinsky

Release Date: 18 August, 1997

Edition: Paperback

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Breathtaking account about the life of Stalin!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is the most detailed account about the life of Stalin I have ever read or heard about. I read it in Russian, which helped me to understand a lot of my own history when I lived in the former Soviet Union. I learned the truth about many things which existed in the Soviet and still exist in the newly independent states established after the fall of the Soviet Union. Stalin is the most enigmatic leader of our times. The book talks about his life as a revolutionary, party leader and the "Boss". The author is a little condemning of Stalin in his writing. But it lists a lot of facts from secret archives which is the main reason I liked this book. I learned so many facts about the history of Soviet union and how Stalin basically instilled fear into millions of people with his "purges" simply for the "Great Idea" which was to build a Communist society in the world where USSR would dominate the world.

Another interesting fact that I have inferred from the book has to do with the way Stalin built personality cult. The book reveals that again this was all done for a reason. Stalin was very methodical and he desired one thing only Power without restraint. He killed millions of people to keep the state strong and unified to make the people love him so that they would eventually sacrifice their lives to follow their "leader" in whatever he told them.

In short, read this book and remember how evil a person can be even though they don't look and act like it. I totally enjoyed the book. I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the history of the fallen Soviet Empire.

Stalin's Crimes Exposed

Radzinsky has presented an extensively researched and well-documented book on Josef Stalin's rise to power and his 25 year
bloody reign in the USSR. I was surprised by the sheer number of "Comrades" that were eliminated by Stalin, simply to instill
fear into the lives of all Soviet citizens. While the true death toll will never be known for sure, upwards of 20 million
of his own people were killed in order to appease "The Boss".
Radzinsky provides only glimpses of his children (mostly Svetlana) and his family life, but comments extensively on Stalin's close associates such as Molotov and Beria. The author's speculation regarding Stalin's uncharacteristic behavior when Hitler invaded the USSR in June 1941, and the mediocre performance of his armies leaves me wanting to know more about this time period (what if Moscow had fallen to the Nazis?) On the other hand, the sheer number of names and personalities presented in this work is overwhelming to those with only casual interest in Stalin's life. Perhaps the most telling event in Stalin's life was Radzinsky's account of how he lay dying in his room alone, for hours, because his comrades were so fearful of disturbing him and doctors were so fearful of treating him, that they dared not even knock on his door to
see why he had not arisen. (Was he poisened and deliberatly left to die a wretched death?) Ironically, Stalin's final pogram against Soviet Jews was scheduled to begin on the day he died - 3/5/53.
Thanks to Edvard Radzinsky for reminding us of who Stalin really was - even though we may never know why he was one the worst murders of recorded history.