Stalin: Breaker of Nations [Hardcover]

Robert Conquest (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 1991

Robert Conquest is the foremost authority on the Stalinist period of Soviet history. The culmination of a lifetime's work, this book is a masterly portrait of a man who 'perhaps more than any other determined the course of the twentieth century'. Conquest focuses on Stalin's terrifying character, perhaps the closest to a monster that humankind has ever produced. Stalin emerges as a man 'unnatural' and 'unreal', who gave his personal authority to the slaughter of millions, but whose vanity demanded their adulation. Most surprisingly, Conquest demonstrates that Stalin's astounding power was not the reward of ability; it was the creation of a man whose mind was 'of profound mediocrity, melded with superhuman willpower'.'There is no one better qualified to write Stalin's life than Robert Conquest, who in his many books about the Stalinist era has told the story with such intimacy, expertise and passion...Conquest tells the tale with an informed hatred for his subject, and a fine sense of irony which makes this book indispensable reading' A.N. Wilson, Evening Standard

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on a wealth of new material from the Soviet Union, Conquest presents a chilling portrait of a mass murderer who gave personal instructions on how his victims should be tortured. Stalin (1879-1953), a rebellious young seminarian who wrote poetry, would later have poets executed. Conquest ( The Great Terror ) portrays the Soviet dictator as an insufferably rude husband, a Georgian who hated his roots and Russified himself, a crude boor who yearned to be a backslapping man of the people. Although omitting intricate political details and focusing instead on the person himself, this masterful biography provides fresh insight into a progressively paranoid leader who ruled by terror and falsification, deported millions to slave labor camps, engineered the famine of 1932 that killed some five million Ukrainians, and launched an anti-Semitic campaign of murders and arrests. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Written in a fast-moving informative style, this absorbing biography charts Stalin's rise from obscure revolutionary flunky to power-mad dictator. Borrowing liberally from unsealed memoirs of survivors of the Stalinist era, Conquest offers psychological insights into the man who condemned millions of his countrymen to death in the purges of the 1930s and led his nation to become a leading world power. A compelling portrait for students and teachers of modern Russian and European history alike. --Richard Lisker, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st Us Edition edition (November 14, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670840890
• ISBN-13: 978-0670840892
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #548,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Breaker of Stalin, July 22, 2002

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stalin: Breaker of Nations (Paperback)

The master of Soviet scholarship and research, Robert Conquest, lightens up on his usual dense methodology for a slightly more easygoing character sketch on Stalin here. Conquest mentions in his prologue that the point of this biography is not to delve into extreme detail about the history of the USSR during Stalin's lifetime or all the political maneuvers and intrigue that took place. Therefore many historical details are intentionally left out, and more of a high-level view is given. That makes this book a much easier read than Conquest's other works, and it's significantly shorter too. On the other hand, you may be perplexed by the missing historical background if you have not already read Conquest's definitive works on the USSR, especially "The Great Terror" and possibly "Harvest of Sorrow." One criticism is that with Conquest's lighter intellectual mood, he sometimes loses the distinction between biography and political history, neglecting Stalin the man as a focus for the book at some points. Conquest also occasionally lapses into personal opinions, which is not a problem in his other works. This includes his criticisms of Franklin Roosevelt and British diplomat Anthony Eden, and the use of words like "useless," "crackpot," or "charlatan" for many Soviet theorists and scientists, such as the biologist Lysenko. Here all Conquest has to do is let the facts speak for themselves.

With that aside, here Conquest dives as deeply into Stalin's life and personality as possible, though some readers who are trying to understand the extreme depths of his evil may be disappointed. Of course, such deeply psychological info is impossible to obtain, and only the man himself could know what he was thinking, even though Stalin was probably quite unhinged mentally. What we see is a man possessed by such extreme paranoia, not to mention a severe persecution complex, that he became one of history's worst monsters, mostly because he deeply needed to validate himself. Not much different from a typical schoolyard bully by the way, except this bully was at least indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. Stalin also wrecked the idea of socialism once and for all, which may have once been genuinely concerned about "the people" and equality, although it was always doomed to failure as an economic impossibility. Instead the world was inflicted with Stalinism, the doctrine in which tyrants consolidate personal power by eliminating opponents, suppressing any vestige of independent thought, crushing the population, and ruining one's country for decades (if not centuries) to come. Robert Conquest sums up Stalin succinctly at the end of the book - "...hope that no one like him will ever appear again."

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Monster, June 22, 2002

By 

Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalin: Breaker of Nations (Hardcover)

Robert Conquest is one of the better known authors on Russian history, specifically on the rule of Stalin and the Communist era. The beginning of this book lists over fifteen books written by Conquest on these subjects, along with books of poetry. There is even a fictional book listed, written in conjunction with Kingsley Amis. Conquest's sources are vast and are included at the back of the book, although a lack of footnotes is bothersome.

Conquest starts out his book where it all began, in the country of Georgia at the birth of Stalin. We learn there is some confusion over Stalin's birth date and his birth father. Life is hard for young Iosif; his home life is abusive and the family moves around a bit. Stalin ends up enrolled in a seminary school, where he spends five years studying Russian and reading banned Western books. School discipline is strict, and this discipline and arbitrary rules radicalizes young Stalin. Stalin falls in with Marxist revolutionaries and begins his long march to infamy. Conquest's account of Stalin's revolutionary years is a long litany of arrest and internal exile. Stalin repeatedly escapes from Siberian exile only to be rearrested. Stalin does manage to move up in the ranks, becoming known to both Lenin and Trotsky. When the revolution breaks out, Stalin ends up on the front lines, where he takes part in a few unimportant actions (which are elevated to godlike military exploits once Stalin is in charge). Iosif defies many orders and tends to take matters into his own hands, a trait that others will die for when Stalin assumes control.

The rest of the book is the monster. After the death of Lenin, Stalin begins his climb to power by systematically eradicating his fellow Politburo members. Conquest succinctly covers the internal power struggles, the show trials, the war against the peasantry, the treaties and war with Hitler, and the post-war era of lies and murder. Along the way untold millions die of famine, executions, and imprisonment in the gulag system. The most interesting information in these sections is the rise of the personality cult, where Stalin is elevated to the status of a god. Conquest reveals the ridiculousness of this cult. When one of Stalin's speeches is released on records, one side of an album is devoted entirely to applause. A picture in the book, from a celebration of Stalin's 70th birthday, shows Stalin's head in the sky emitting beams of light over the lowly masses, like some bizarre sun. This is sick, sick stuff.

Conquest attempts to account for Stalin's behavior by showing that Stalin has no links to humanity (his wives died and he has few friends). Some of his attributes reek of sociopathy: his emotional expressions always seem to be forced, as though he is acting a part and not really feeling anything, and his natural state is one of cruelty. Conquest also shows how Stalin is really, well, nothing. The guy is a vacuum; he is not Russian, and he doesn't really share the traits of a typical Georgian. It is as though Stalin rose up out of the ground from nowhere. Isn't that how Damien appeared in "The Omen"? Maybe they should check his mother's grave and see if a jackal's skeleton is in there.

This book should be required reading. I did have some problem with Conquest's writing style, which I thought was a little obtuse. This may be my own fault, as I have been reading literature for the past month and I'm out of practice with textbook language. This book gets five stars for its subject. Let's never forget about this monster.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive introduction to Stalin and Stalinism, January 24, 2005

By 

Raul Vasquez (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stalin: Breaker of Nations (Paperback)

There have been many biographies written about Josef Stalin. Many recent biographies of Stalin such as "Stalin: The Court of the Red Czar" by Montefiore and "Stalin and his Hangmen: The Tyrant and those who killed for him" by Rayfield focus only on the sexual depravity and crimes of Stalin's followers respectively. A person should only read those biographies only after they have read an introductory biography of Stalin and have therefore come away with an understanding of Stalin as whole. Robert Conquest's "Stalin: Breaker of Nations" provides such a biography with the vital information for one to build a basic stable foundation of the life of this twentieth century tyrant. In the introduction Conquest modestly says, "This book is not a dissection of Stalin's character, but a sketch". It is important to keep this quote in mind as one reads Conquest's book. Many reviewers unfortunately are hasty in criticizing "Stalin: Breaker of Nations" for its lack of length (a mere 330 pages or so). Nonetheless, Conquest's "sketch" proves to be more thorough than many of the "dissections" of Stalin available. Indeed Robert Conquest's work on Stalin has been so extensive that he was chosen to be the main history consultant for the 1992 movie "Stalin", starring Robert Duvall.

Robert Conquest writes his book for the common reader who only has a minimal knowledge of Stalin and Stalinism. The book is nonetheless engaging enough for the serious Russian history buff. Anyone who reads "Stalin: Breaker of Nations" will at least come away with the conclusion that Stalin was the most prolific mass murderer in history (yes even more than Hitler). The purpose of the book is ultimately to stimulate enough interest for the reader to do some further research and reading. If one wants further information on Stalin's crimes, one can pick up Robert Conquest's book entitled "The Great Terror: A Reassessment".

I strongly recommend "Stalin: Breaker of Nations" to anyone who wishes to have a firm grasp on the essentials of the early Soviet era. I especially wish to highlight Chapter 12 (entitled " War") of the book, which points how the Allies (Roosevelt in particular) were incompetent when it came to standing up to Stalin.

If you want some further readings on Russian History, just remember that the best Russian historians start with the letter "R" (Robert Conquest, Richard Pipes, Robert Service, Richard Overy, Robert Leckie, and Robert Payne).