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Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 Hardcover – November 6, 2014

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Stephen Kotkin (Author)
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Stephen Kotkin (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 139 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: Stalin
  • Hardcover: 976 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Press; 1St Edition edition (November 6, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594203792
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594203794
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.9 x 9.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Dictator's Life; A Scholar's Life's Work
By Laurence R. Bachmann VINE VOICE on August 29, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Any review of Stephen Kotkin's Stalin is like a reproduction of great artwork: it in no way will reflect the depth, color or texture of the original, which is nothing short brilliant. Like all classics in the genre, Kotkin's biography is a many layered and nuanced portrait of both a man and an era; a person and a people; a hero and a villain. If Stalin deteriorated into murderous sociopathy, he was not always so. Sometimes he was incredibly brave, clinging to his convictions with resolve and courage. Usually detached, and always willing to use men for his purpose and women for his needs, Kotkin captures the boundless dichotomy in this smart, always ambitious man. One who begins with good, even noble intent and along the way trades principle for power; compassion for control. In the end, perhaps the author's greatest accomplishment is to show how the most seemingly ordinary men are capable of extraordinary evil; how sheer force of will can change history.

Stalin is constructed like a jigsaw puzzle. Kotkin fills in the borders and the edges first, framing his subject in the context of 19th century Imperial Russia; a Georgian with few advantages having to assert, excel and assimilate to get ahead. He hews closely to known facts, avoiding conjecture. As a result, in the first 150 pages there is surprising little Stalin in Stalin. Rather than pop psych musings that link a drunken father's abuse to mass murder, Kotkin puts his subject in the context of the time. He examines how suffocatingly autocratic Imperial Russian Society happened to be with the Orthodox Church Stalin's only potential escape route. A bright and eager adolescent idealizes his church entering the seminary only to find himself in a de facto boot camp that brooked no opposition, stifled all curiosity.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsLife and Time Plus; 4.5 Stars
By R. Albin TOP 1000 REVIEWER on December 3, 2014
Format: Hardcover
This book is something more than a biography of Stalin. As Kotkin states in his preface, its a marriage of history and biography. Kotkin is writing an thorough history of first 40 years of the Soviet state from the perspective of the Soviet leadership using Stalin's life as the focal point. Consequently, this book contains extensive descriptions and analysis of the Tsarist state, its collapse during WWI, the revolutions that followed, the ensuing civil war, and the initial formation of the Soviet Union. Prominent themes are the efforts of both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes to build a modern state, the importance of international competition, the chaos of the revolutions, the large role of contingency in Bolshevik success, and Lenin's crucial role as the founder of the Soviet state. Indeed,this volume can be said to as much about Lenin as about Stalin. For the background of the Soviet Union and its emergence, this book is very rewarding.

Kotkin is careful to avoid discussing Stalin and his life from the perspective of his eventual role as the ruthless despot of the Soviet Union. He is also careful to rebut claims, many emanating from Trotsky and his followers of Stalin's crudity. Kotkin shows Stalin to be quite intelligent, a committed and well read autodidact, and remarkably diligent. While certainly not original, he was well versed in Marxist theory and completely in the thrall of Lenin's version of Marxism. Kotkin demonstrates that Stalin really was Lenin's heir, carrying Lenin's ideas and tendencies to their logical conclusion. Far from being a minor figure in the revolution and subsequent events, Stalin was arguably the most important figure in the development of the most important institution of the Soviet state, the Communist Party.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAs Good as Caro on Johnson
By Stuart M. Wilder on December 12, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I could not believe how I tore through this book. I drink up Russian history and I can say this is the best narrative of the twists and turns of Social-Democratic Labour Party schisms, the Comintern, Soviet, and all the other congresses— names and dates and details that used to make my eyes glaze over. Kotkin admits he cannot provide a linear narrative of what happened after the October, 1917 revolution, and then turns the hash into a TV dinner that is easy to follow yet shows in luxurious and delicious detail how Stalin evolved into the paranoid manipulator of men and institutions like no one has done before. This book is on a par with Robert Caro's Path To Power, and like Caro's volumes. I cannot wait for the next one.
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4.0 out of 5 starsStalin--A Monumental Study of the Road to Absolute Power
By Donny Brooklyn on January 24, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
Terms such as "magisterial" and "profound" are distributed these days with such regularity that they are often meaningless. But that is not the case with Stephen Kotkin's biography of the 20th century Russian dictator, which, for the post part, deserves all the praise it has gathered. As the work opens, the author provides us with a summary of the life of the young Josif Djugashvili and his emergence from the semi-medieval Georgian border zone of the Russian empire which he did so much to destroy. "Soso," as he was known to his friends, entered a regimented seminary to prepare for the priesthood, but converted in his teenage years from Eastern Orthodox Christianity to a new belief system then gaining traction in the empire. This new religion was Marxism, which Kotkin shows formed Stalin's frame of reference and the core of his political thinking, and to which he adhered, with varying degrees of fanaticism and pragmatism, for the rest of his life. Far from being a "grey blur," as his earlier enemies characterized him, Stalin, in Kotkin's version, was a highly intelligent, extremely well-read autodidact who was intimately conversant with the postulates and nuances of the new "faith", and could wield them like a rapier in polemics against his opponents. Here, we don't yet see Stalin the monster, but Stalin the shmoozing politician, "morose" at some times, but more often conveying a communist message that resonated with his colleagues and especially with the younger Bolsheviks. We all know the end of the story, but during the timeframe covered by Kotkin (until 1928) many of these people "liked" Stalin (or at least couldn't see their way through a host of problems without him).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent book. My only complaint is that I will ...

Excellent book. My only complaint is that I will probably have to wait a while until the next volume comes out.

Published 1 month ago by E. Poweleit
5.0 out of 5 starsWhat an amazing book.

What an amazing book.. Not just a life of Stalin but even more so, a history of Russia in that era. He summarizes whatever was going on in Russia at that time in every chapter, and... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsBesides being a powerful commentary on Stalin, I learned ...

Besides being a powerful commentary on Stalin, I learned so much history that made me comprehend Russia in the present time.

Published 1 month ago by Carol Johnson
5.0 out of 5 starsBest Bio of Stalin in English

This review's title should be qualified by adding "very possibly," or "to go by this evidence," since it is Volume I of an anticipated three volume work. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsRead This

If you are a history buff as I am or just interested in another part of the world this is a good book to read. It is well written and shows no bias either. Mr. Read more

Published 1 month ago by ahoffnag
4.0 out of 5 starsA peak into the heart of evil.

Fascinating look at one of the most despotic rulers of all time. Many personal details not always included in a biography. While long, it has a good flow to it.

Published 1 month ago by Peter A. Porter
5.0 out of 5 starsMassive in every respect

Massively documented, immensely detailed, this is indeed the most impressive (and heavy -- 600 pages+) of the biographies of Stalin that I have read. Prof. Read more

Published 2 months ago by George L. Bustin
5.0 out of 5 starsOutstanding with insights and a perspective I have not read ...

Outstanding with insights and a perspective I have not read before. I am a novice but it is important to know about a man who had absolute dictatorial control over more people... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Robert Guzzardi
5.0 out of 5 starsComprehensive, leaves out personal details but has much more other...

A very comprehensive book, and to call it a biography of Stalin is an understatement. Indeed it covers much more and leaves out a lot about Stalin himself. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Matthew Lerner
1.0 out of 5 starsVery pleased!

Book arrived in time for Christmas. Very pleased!

Published 2 months ago by Mark Voorheis

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