Waubonsee Community College

Stalin, new biography of a dictator, Oleg V. Khlevniuk ; translated by Nora Seligman Favorov

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

individual biography

illustrationsportraitsplates

index present

non fiction

Stalin

bibliography

893896537

Oleg V. Khlevniuk ; translated by Nora Seligman Favorov

new biography of a dictator

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

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