New Biography of a Dictator. Rather than diminishing the horrors of Stalinism, this is an account all the more disturbing for presenting a believable human portrait. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser, Stalin: A Biography available in It is, above all, a balanced account. For an understanding of Stalin the man, the leader, the Georgian, the Russian nationalist, the revolutionary, the party politician, the mass murderer and the international statesman, and his place in modern Russian historyRobert Service's book is unsurpassed. Joseph Stalin, Russian in full Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, original name (Georgian) Ioseb Dzhugashvili, (born December 18 [December 6, Old Style], 1878, Gori, Georgia, Russian Empire [ see Researcher’s Note] —died March 5, 1953, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941–53), who for a quarter of a … Gritty and unshowy, but enlightened by Service's compelling characterisation, magisterial analysis and dry wit, this outstanding biography of lightly worn authority, wide research and superb intuition will be read for decades. Evidence about Stalin has always been opaque. Joseph Stalin (18 December 1878 - 5 March 1953) Stalin was absolute ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. 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. Stalin's career, and this biography, cover an intense perid of Russian history from the last decades of the Tsars through revolution, civil war, World War, to the first decades of the nuclear age. A short biography of Joseph Stalin whose rise to power began during the October Revolution in 1917, when the Bolsheviks overthrew the tsar and created a Communist society. Stalin himself orchestrated this, silencing his witnesses and systematically distorting, hiding and destroying documents. It synthesizes all the major narrative accounts and incorporates a good deal of revealing new information. It was published in 2004. But this image does not do justice to the multi-faceted and fascinating person who emerges in this latest biography. A common perception of Stalin is that of an oafish backroom bureaucrat who bludgeoned his way to the heights of power. His father was a shoem… Stalin: A Biography is a biography of Joseph Stalin written by Robert Service. Equally compelling is the depiction of Stalin as Soviet leader. An excellent companion to Service's biographies of Lenin and Trotsky. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. Stalin, a sequel to Mr. Service's Lenin: A Biography, presents a richly documented, highly persuasive portrait of the man who transformed the Soviet Union into a modem military-industrial power, terrorized millions and ruled over an empire that would have been the envy of the czars...Brick by brick, Mr. Service constructs a solid, accessible work that does as much as one book can to explain Stalin as a human being, and as the architect of a system that still weighs heavy on millions of citizens in the former Soviet Union. William Grimes, Stalin made little distinction between his personal and political life, and as Service demonstrates in this balanced, tightly written work, it is necessary to consider each in the context of the other. [A] profound and readable assessment of the Soviet dictator…. 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. But a richer and more complex individual emergesand a more human one. A serious communist political thinker and the best-read Russian leader since Catherine the Great...[Service] has written a masterly book, with great erudition, style and wit. Service's biography of Stalin is an excellent treatment of one of history's most notorious figures. He titles the fifth and final section of the biography ‘Imperator’ to cap Stalin's evolution from revolutionary and party leader to despot and warlord. Stalin: A Biography is a biography of Joseph Stalin written by Robert Service.It was published in 2004. He paints a picture of a talented politician who was driven by a severe personality disorder to behave in the way he did...Humanising him, Service believes, will help to identify future tyrants. Stalin: A Biography...offers the most detailed account of his life, career and beliefs. … Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) The man who turned the Soviet Union from a backward country into a world superpower at unimaginable human cost. A man who wrote poetry and loved singing. Alongside an excellent biography, there is an epilogue that deals with Stalin's legacy in Russia today, and how often he is looked upon fondly. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement. Biography: Joseph Stalin. Underpinning this is the author’s broad thesis that the personal and political in Stalin were so intermingled, as to be indistinguishable—more so than with any other tyrant...[A]ny criticism of a scholar who has scaled the mountain that is Stalin’s life, with such dedication and mastery, cannot be very substantial. Joseph Stalin was born Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili on December 18, 1878, or December 6, 1878, according to the Old Style Julian calendar (although he later invented a new birth date for himself: December 21, 1879), in the small town of Gori, Georgia, then part of the Russian empire. It offers a truly rounded and thoroughly readable portrait of this monstrous figure. Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph, For an understanding of Stalin the man, the leader, the Georgian, the Russian nationalist, the revolutionary, the party politician, the mass murderer and the international statesman, and his place in modern Russian history--Robert Service's book is unsurpassed. Harold Shukman, author of Stalin's Generals. No mere messenger for Lenin, Stalin was a prominent activist long before the Russian Revolution. Stalin had always presided over its rites. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stalin:_A_Biography&oldid=977283871, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 September 2020, at 00:15. In the course Service dispels a number of myths especially whether Stalin murdered his second wife. Yet, he also shows Stalin as a human being, which make his crimes even worse. Goes through Stalin's childhood, growing up, meeting Lenin, Russian revolution, Nadia, becoming the supreme leader of the USSR, the great terror, … He served as both General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). A stimulating study of a monster whose thoughts and motives remain obscure. Drawing on a wealth of unexplored material - available for the first time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union - Robert Service's biography of Stalin is the most authoritative yet published. Stalin: A Biography - by Robert Service. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov (New Haven and London: Yale university Press, 2015), pp.xvi + 392. 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. He made no blunder costlier than that of June 1941; yet he himself got off scot-free. Niall Ferguson, Stalin: A Biography...offers the most detailed account of his life, career and beliefs. Andrew Nagorski, Service's fascinating new Stalin biography, the first comprehensive English-language treatment of his life since the opening of the Soviet archives in the mid-1990s, is full of historical what-ifs...Stalin: A Biography...is a major landmark in the recent scholarly reassessment of the notorious dictator who consolidated Soviet power, launched vicious purges against his own people (and indeed his own political party), defeated the Nazis in World War II, and launched the Cold War...Service's trumps all other volumes now available on Stalin's life. Service pays due attention to Stalin's early life, his upbringing in a dysfunctional family, the contradiction between his academic achievements and what the Russians call his hooliganism. Stalin: A Biography…is a major landmark in the recent scholarly reassessment of the notorious dictator who consolidated Soviet power, launched vicious purges against his own people (and indeed his own political party), defeated the Nazis in World War II, and launched the Cold War… Service’s trumps all other volumes now available on Stalin’s life. Stalin presided over the industrialisation of the Soviet economy and was the supreme war leader during the Second World War. Verified Purchase. Joseph Stalin.Narrated by Mike Wallace. This will likely serve for a long time as the most authoritative and comprehensive one-volume study of Stalin...Service portrays Stalin as an intellectual of sorts who read widely, although always within the wobbling worldview of Marxist-Leninism and with an eye to the usefulness of ideas in expanding and maintaining his own power...Stalin: A Biography, with its low-key, frequently wry, and exhaustively researched telling of the story, will be a standard reference for years to come. He served as both General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). Yet his contemporaries, and many historians since, have underestimated him. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the ruler of the Soviet Union from 1927 until 1953. The most authoritative and engrossing biography of the notorious dictator ever written Josef Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. Not only does Service trace Stalin's road to dictatorship, he shows us what he did with absolute power...No one has shown in more convincing detail than Service Stalin's evolution to the absolute power that corrupts absolutely. The man who turned the Soviet Union from a backward country into a world superpower at unimaginable human cost. He was instrumental in defeating Adolf Hitler, and ending the Holocaust, but he also presided over his own genocide. On the other, he was a man who aspired to understand and interpret (crassly) high art and politics...This is the first serious political biography of Stalin since the opening of the archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1990s and Service has made good use of them. Misha Glenny, Service triumphs in portraying Stalin's personality in the context of his times...This book is a tour de force. Note: Access code and/or supplemental material are not guaranteed to be included with textbook rental or used textbook. 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. This biography is very informative and detailed. Stalin : a biography by Service, Robert, 1947- author. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December [O.S. Dirac A SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY HELGE KRAGH CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Published by the Press Syndic:a1e or the Uaiversi . Service makes sense of Stalin's achievements by making us take him seriously...Stalin's power at its peak was immense and daunting. Gritty and unshowy, but enlightened by Service's compelling characterization, magisterial analysis and dry wit, this outstanding biography of lightly worn authority, wide research and superb intuition will be read for decades. Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Robert Service's brilliant biography of Stalin is a major work: the fruit of long research, profound insight and understanding of his subject. Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2008. Never abandoning his wide-angle lens, Service shows how Stalin's experiences of religion, nationalism, peasant lore, and imperialism became the channels through which he funneled his radical agenda...Keenly aware that by putting a human face on the monster he is exposing himself to charges of being an apologist, Service nevertheless perseveres in setting the record straight in this comprehensive and landmark biography...By painstakingly deconstructing Stalin's personal reinventions and self-created legacy, Service takes an important step toward revealing the man behind the myth. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. Service's innovation is to reveal Stalin's frailtyabove all, his capacity for miscalculation. He paints a picture of a talented politician who was driven by a severe personality disorder to behave in the way he did...Humanising him, Service believes, will help to identify future tyrants. Stalin, without hiding behind Yezhov, asserted that the Trotskyist–Zinovievite bloc had installed an agency for espionage, sabotage and terrorism working for the German intelligence services. “Robert Service's brilliant biography of Stalin is a major work: the fruit of long research, profound insight and understanding of his subject. Never abandoning his wide-angle lens, Service shows how Stalin's experiences of religion, nationalism, peasant lore, and imperialism became the channels through which he funneled his radical agenda...Keenly aware that by putting a human face on the monster he is exposing himself to charges of being an apologist, Service nevertheless perseveres in setting the record straight in this comprehensive and landmark biography...By painstakingly deconstructing Stalin's personal reinventions and self-created legacy, Service takes an important step toward revealing the man behind the myth. He organised the publication of Lenin’s memoirs and helped to set up an Institute of Lenin. Paperback. Joseph Stalin (18 December 1878 - 5 March 1953) Stalin was absolute ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. It also serves as a reminder that unbridled power is usually a recipe for disaster. It is, above all, a balanced account. Foundation for Economic Education The Foundation for Economic Education, founded 1946, works for a free and prosperous world. Stalin. Stalin, like Mao, is a dictator & mass murderer who has been largely ignored by a world that has been brainwashed to think that Hitler was some uniquely evil monster. It concentrates not simply on Stalin as dedicated bureaucrat or serial political killer, but on a fuller assessment of h In his new biography of the Soviet dictator, Robert Service has given the most convincing description yet of how Stalin's insecure Georgian childhood fashioned his psychology. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Service's fascinating new Stalin biography, the first comprehensive English-language treatment of his life since the opening of the Soviet archives in the mid-1990s, is full of historical what-ifs...Stalin: A Biography...is a major landmark in the recent scholarly reassessment of the notorious dictator who consolidated Soviet power, launched vicious purges against his own people (and indeed his own political party), defeated the Nazis in World War II, and launched the Cold War...Service's trumps all other volumes now available on Stalin's life. Here he has struck the right balance and produced an intellectually cogent and highly readable account. And his conviction that enemies surrounded him was not entirely unfounded. inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks; china. In Service's eyes, Stalin remains ruthless, cunning and murderous. It was published in 2004. He has the courage to confess that the monster, in his shabby clothes and wornout boots, dying alone in his dacha, soaked in his own urine, remains for him an enigma, not least because of the tyrant's consistent massaging of his own image. Raymond Carr, A profound and readable reassessment of the Soviet dictator...Service paints a picture of a ruthless man absorbed in the pursuit of politics, widely read, perceptive, cunning and, despite a self-effacing and isolated persona, the stuff of leadership...Stalin was no fool; he could scarcely have become dictator of a vast nation if he had been. Joseph Stalin.Narrated by Mike Wallace. [2], The book is a descriptive account of Stalin's life, covering in detail his youth, rise to power and rule. Stalin made little distinction between his personal and political life, and as Service demonstrates in this balanced, tightly written work, it is necessary to consider each in the context of the other. Service does as well as can be expected with the materials at hand. Service’s impressive biography successfully challenges the conventional image of Stalin...Service has a remarkable talent for covering a lot of ground with clarity, brevity, and nuance. Stalin ruled up until his own death in 1953. Stalin: A Biography is a biography of Joseph Stalin written by Robert Service. "—Jan Plamper, author of The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power Joseph Stalin (December 18, 1878–March 5, 1953) was an important leader in the Russian Revolution who became the head of the Communist Party and dictator of the Soviet state known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). At key points in the book, we are reminded of Stalin's dualityon the one hand he was a proud Caucasian toughie who organized bank robberies and could drink spirits all night. Oxford historian Service, author of an acclaimed biography of Lenin, provides In consolidating his absolute power, he ordered many ‘purges’ in which people in positions of power were executed or sent to gulags. Joseph Stalin Biography. Erudite yet never abstruse, comprehensive and gripping at the same time, Stalin: A Biography should become required reading for students, specialists, and anyone else interested in modern history. It synthesizes all the major narrative accounts and incorporates a good deal of revealing new information. Andrew O'Hehir, Service has written an unhurried, richly detailed and rigorously researched book, anchored in hundreds of sourcesa vast but cleanly structured text, polished, fluent and brisk...Service gives us a portrait of a paranoid and murderous despot, not a one-dimensional, cartoonish baddie...Service greatly advances our understanding by deftly fusing the tale of the man with that of the doctrine to which he was fanatically beholden and the ethos and practices of the tiny underground party. Leon Aron, A common perception of Stalin is that of an oafish backroom bureaucrat who bludgeoned his way to the heights of power. Publication date 2010 Topics Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953, Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953, Heads of state, Heads of state, Politics and government Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks; china Digitizing … Service reminds us that a quarter of Russians recently polled put the Stalin years top of the list of periods in Russian history they most admired...This shrewd biography helps us understand clearly and dispassionately why not everyone remembers Stalin as a murderous ogre. Richard Overy, This is effectively the first full biography since perestroika to encompass the economic, political, diplomatic, military, administrative and, above all, ideological dimensions, as well as the personal aspects of Stalin's colossal life. Collection. A masterpiece. On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - later known as Joseph Stalin - was born. Please check back later for updated availability. Well written and researched, Service charts Stalin's life from Georgia in his youth to his death as master of Eastern Europe, and does not try to hide Stalin's great crimes. Drawing on fresh archive material, historian Robert Service lays the man bare and places him within the context of his times. Although there are still some Soviet-era archives that remain closed, this biography will surely stand the test of time. Stefan Wagstyl, In his new biography of the Soviet dictator, Robert Service has given the most convincing description yet of how Stalin's insecure Georgian childhood fashioned his psychology. Underpinning this is the author’s broad thesis that the personal and political in Stalin were so intermingled, as to be indistinguishablemore so than with any other tyrant...[A]ny criticism of a scholar who has scaled the mountain that is Stalin’s life, with such dedication and mastery, cannot be very substantial. Stalin presided over the industrialisation of the Soviet economy and was the supreme war leader during the Second World War. 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. Steve McQueen: A Biography. In consolidating his absolute power, he ordered many ‘purges’ in which people in positions of power were executed or sent to gulags. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December [O.S. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. It's an epic, brutal, at times heroic, and almost always tragic tale. Publisher. He took control of … [Service’s] biography of Stalin is the first in English touching on every aspect of the dictator’s life, using resources made available since the perestroyka era and the subsequent break-up of the USSR...This book, over its 715-plus pages, reveals a definite, even definitive, mastery of its topic...The insights seem fresh and original, helped by the author’s trenchant style, his robust, short sentences...[M]ore than any other biographer, Service shows the humanindeed inhumanfigure at the centre of all this activity and his daily routine in his rise to the power of life and death over everyone in the USSR. On the other, he was a man who aspired to understand and interpret (crassly) high art and politics...This is the first serious political biography of Stalin since the opening of the archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1990s and Service has made good use of them. Dirac: A Scientific Biography. It also serves as a reminder that unbridled power is usually a recipe for disaster. Lynwood Abram, [An] excellent new biography...Robert Service paints a picture of a warped monster of a man, insatiable in his pursuit of power, ruthless in his treatment of real and imagined rivals, remorseless in his murder of millions. The author’s very achievement casts a huge shadow—benign in his case—over any critic. His portrait of Stalin is highly contextualized, and he balances his analysis of Stalin with a broader discussion of the historical events that the dictator both influenced and experienced. Orlando: A Biography. Robert Service makes a lot of interesting highlighted points in this book. [1], For his research, Service even traveled to Abkhazia, where Stalin's datcha was located during the 1930s. Robert Service - Stalin: A Biography Few people are more intriguing to read about than Joseph Stalin. Stalin is shown as lover, husband and father. Yet, he also shows Stalin as a human being, which make his crimes even worse. According to the publisher, it uses a personal style which "humanizes Stalin without ever diminishing the extent of the atrocities he unleashed upon the Soviet population."[1]. In the course of this engrossing and well-researched book, Stalin emerges as a fascinating, complex figure. It offers a truly rounded and thoroughly readable portrait of this monstrous figure.” ―Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph Robert Service's Stalin biography provides a detailed glimpse into the life of one of history's great tyrants. And his conviction that enemies surrounded him was not entirely unfounded. Stalin & Mao each could arguably be considered far more destructive to more people over a longer duration. Equally compelling is the depiction of Stalin as Soviet leader. He was known as a brutal leader who was responsible for the deaths of over 20 million people. This article about a biographical or autobiographical book on a Soviet politician is a stub. The more the tyrant is exposed for who he was, the harder it will become to wax nostalgic for his times. Rebecca Reich, A stimulating study of a monster whose thoughts and motives remain obscure. A profound and readable reassessment of the Soviet dictator...Service paints a picture of a ruthless man absorbed in the pursuit of politics, widely read, perceptive, cunning and, despite a self-effacing and isolated persona, the stuff of leadership...Stalin was no fool; he could scarcely have become dictator of a vast nation if he had been. Service triumphs in portraying Stalin's personality in the context of his times...This book is a tour de force. Not only does Service trace Stalin's road to dictatorship, he shows us what he did with absolute power...No one has shown in more convincing detail than Service Stalin's evolution to the absolute power that corrupts absolutely. Digitizing sponsor. Although there are still some Soviet-era archives that remain closed, this biography will surely stand the test of time. Service reminds us that a quarter of Russians recently polled put the Stalin years top of the list of periods in Russian history they most admired...This shrewd biography helps us understand clearly and dispassionately why not everyone remembers Stalin as a murderous ogre. Gritty and unshowy, but enlightened by Service's compelling characterisation, magisterial analysis and dry wit, this outstanding biography of lightly worn authority, wide research and superb intuition will be read for decades. Simon Sebag Montefiore. Here is a life-and-times biography in the grand style: deeply researched, well written, brimming with interpretations. It had been he who arranged for the corpse of the Soviet leader to be displayed in the Mausoleum. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the ruler of the Soviet Union from 1927 until 1953. He made no blunder costlier than that of June 1941; yet he himself got off scot-free. Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. Joseph Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in Gori, Georgia (a region annexed by Russia in 1801) on December 6, 1878, by the Julian calendar then in use; using the modern calendar, that converts to December 18, 1878. Once the author has Stalin in the Tiflis Seminary, he accepts much of the questionable lore about Stalin's rapid radicalisation. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The author’s very achievement casts a huge shadowbenign in his caseover any critic. Yet his contemporaries, and many historians since, have underestimated him. This is effectively the first full biography since perestroika to encompass the economic, political, diplomatic, military, administrative and, above all, ideological dimensions, as well as the personal aspects of Stalin's colossal life. UPDATE: finished: Stalin's career, and this biography, cover an intense perid of Russian history from the last decades of the Tsars through revolution, civil war, World War, to the first decades of the nuclear age. He later claimed his … Here he has struck the right balance and produced an intellectually cogent and highly readable account. Gavin Engelbrecht, In the course of this engrossing and well-researched book, Stalin emerges as a fascinating, complex figure. Andrew Roberts, In Service's eyes, Stalin remains ruthless, cunning and murderous. Robert Service is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Russian History at Oxford University. 1,232 627 2MB Read more. 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