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 "New York Times" (4/13/2005 12:00:00 AM)Stalin: A Biography...offers the most detailed account of his life, career and beliefs.--Andrew Nagorski "Newsweek" (5/30/2005 12:00:00 AM)[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. Service's innovation is to reveal Stalin's frailty--above all, his capacity for miscalculation. He made no blunder costlier than that of June 1941; yet he himself got off scot-free.--Niall Ferguson "New York Times Book Review" (6/12/2005 12:00:00 AM)[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 human--indeed inhuman--figure 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. 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. The author's very achievement casts a huge shadow--benign in his case--over any critic.--Tony Wilson "New Zealand Slavonic Journal" (1/1/2006 12:00:00 AM)A common perception of Stalin is that of an oafish backroom bureaucrat who bludgeoned his way to the heights of power. But this image does not do justice to the multi-faceted and fascinating person who emerges in this latest biography. Drawing on fresh archive material, historian Robert Service lays the man bare and places him within the context of his times. 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. Here he has struck the right balance and produced an intellectually cogent and highly readable account.--Gavin Engelbrecht "Northern Echo" (2/1/2005 12:00:00 AM)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. Yet his contemporaries, and many historians since, have underestimated him. Service makes sense of Stalin's achievements by making us take him seriously...Stalin's power at its peak was immense and daunting. 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 "The Mail on Sunday" (10/31/2004 12:00:00 AM)A stimulating study of a monster whose thoughts and motives remain obscure. It also serves as a r
- Libro Impreso
- Edición:
- Editorial: Vintage
- Autor: Service, Professor of Russian History Robert
