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Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from
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Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives Paperback - 1997

by Edvard Radzinsky

Edvard Radzinsky, author of "The Last Tsar", is "a gripping storyteller (who) does not disappoint here" ("The New York Times Book Review"). Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. photo insert.


From the publisher

From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has fully obtained: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion. As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalin's epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalin's long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Union's Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalin's private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide. As he did in The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class-all become, in Radzinsky's hands, as gripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might--and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history--is solved.

First line

It is 1878.

From the jacket flap

From the author of "The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has entirely gotten hold of: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion.
As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalin's epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalin's long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Union's Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalin's private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide. As he did in "The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class-all become, in Radzinsky's hands, asgripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might--and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history--is solved.

Details

  • Title Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives
  • Author Edvard Radzinsky
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition (8th)
  • Pages 640
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Anchor Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 1997-08-18
  • ISBN 9780385479547 / 0385479549
  • Weight 1.01 lbs (0.46 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.9 x 5.38 x 1.32 in (20.07 x 13.67 x 3.35 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Russian
  • Library of Congress subjects Soviet Union - History - 1925-1953, Stalin, Joseph
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 01/18/1998, Page 24

About the author

Edvard Radzinsky is well-known in Russia as a popular historian, television personality, playwright, and screenwriter. His plays have been staged with the frequency of Chekhov's and have won international acclaim. As a trained historian, Radzinsky spent decades working on the life of Tsar Nichols II and has written dozens of books about Russian history.
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