Buy New

$14.08

FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Want it Monday, Oct. 29? Order within and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Select delivery location

Buy Used

$9.74

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Northeast Mercantile

Fulfilled by Amazon

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$15.96
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Wordery Specialist

Add to Cart

$12.30
+ $3.75 shipping

Sold by: Manor26

Add to Cart

$17.31
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Firehouse Liquidation

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novel Paperback – October 1, 2000

by Richard Lourie (Author)

32 customer reviews

See all 6 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$7.98

$2.98

Paperback

"Please retry"

$14.08

$11.87

$1.72

In a spellbinding novel that combines the suspense of a thriller and the accuracy of a work of history, the psychology of a monster is fully revealed, every atom of his madness explored, every twist of his homicidal logic followed to its logical conclusion. "Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me," thinks Joseph Stalin. It's a paranoid lie, but all too real to Stalin. Trotsky, in exile in Mexico City, is writing a biography of Stalin that may offer proof of a secret crime that could force Stalin from power. What will Trotsky disclose before the long hand of Stalin reaches him and eliminates the threat? The prospect leads Stalin to reflect on his own life—the sly and domineering schoolboy battling a sadistic father . . . a youthful poet, thief, and seminarian who questions morality, evil, and the existence of God until he finds answers that free him to a life of power and slaughter. Stalin takes us deeper and deeper into his life and into the labyrinth of his psyche until we are finally alone with him. The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin is a mesmerizing journey to the very heart of evil.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Oleg V. Khlevniuk

63

Paperback
$19.20
Robert Service

38

Paperback
$25.00
Laurent Binet

269

Paperback
$15.69
Giles Foden

59

Paperback
$15.23
Simon Sebag Montefiore

271

Paperback
$17.60
Jill Lepore

35

in United States History
Hardcover
$29.47

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Richard Lourie

26

Hardcover
$15.11
Stephen Kotkin

68

Hardcover
$25.86

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A ferociously absorbing account of the making of a monster...conveys the savagery in a way that biography simply cannot." -- Newsday

"A grimly comic, historically enthralling book, deeply thoughtful and hugely entertaining." -- Boston Globe

"Dark and fascinating...Lourie's prose is spare and evocative, the plot compelling even if the end is well-known, and the story surprisingly funny at times." -- Wall Street Journal

"Do not read this book unless you want to be buttonholed by the worst man who ever lived." -- Joseph Heller

"Magnificently written! I couldn't put it down even though it gave me nightmares." -- Czeslaw Milosz

"Really fine fiction about the life of a really horrible man" -- Time

"The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin effervesces." -- New York Times Book Review

"Works as both a history and a thrilling work of suspense." -- Time Out New York

About the Author

Richard Lourie is the author of three novels and four books of nonfiction and has translated some forty books from Russian and Polish into English. His articles and reviews have appeared in many publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, and the Nation. He lives in New York City.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0306809974
ISBN-13: 978-0306809972
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 32 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #988 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Biographical
- #1008 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
- #5176 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

32 customer reviews

2 star (0%)

Review this product

Write a customer review

Showing 1-8 of 32 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Fernand Ray

A masterpiece

December 14, 2006

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Of course he never wrote an autobiography, but if he told it to cronies, it would sound like this, then he'd have them shot. So imagine Stalin telling his life story, a crude thug boasting of his power, telling little anecdotes about exterminating millions, and sharing his innermost "thoughts". It's black humor at its best. Lourie is a sovietologist and literary translator from Russian, he's done the research, spent time in Russia, he knows his stuff. It's hard to imagine a more accurate portrait of the monster, and once you start reading, you can't put it down. Should be required reading, lest we forget. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Cathleen S. Lewis

Stalin as no historian could document him!

December 15, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is an excellent example of what historical fiction should be. Written as Stalin's personal response to Trotsky's biography of him as he waited to have his political rival executed, Lourie's book reveals Stalin as a man, alone with himself (and his decoys), responding to the most scathing criticisms of him written in his lifetime. Stalin was a well-published author, but nothing that he published or that remains behind in his writing in the archives reveals much about the true nature of the man. In fact, his writings leave the impression of a man of limited intellect and brutal instincts with no indication of how he could have possible overcome so many far more talented rivals. Lourie weaved together the psyche of the man using what we do know about his criminality, religious training and political pragmatism. He then adds a dose of that arid humor that historians would love to attribute to him, but know that no one who had seen this in Stalin could have survived him.

This book is an essential read for the non-specialist who desires an understanding of Stalin and Stalinism with a minimal historical background. Prior to the publication of this book, I would have recommended Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle for that purpose. Stalin's Autobiography more closely approaches Solzhenistyn's savaging of Lenin in Lenin in Zurich than the much more personal First Circle. Russian studies specialists will find this a joy to read and re-read and relish as each pass through reveals additional little pearls that Stalin never wrote, but we all know that he had in mind.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Chris Kade

The ring of truth and a great novel to boot

July 5, 1999

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

If you've read enough biography and history about Stalin, you probably feel that he is still an enigma wrapped inside a riddle (to paraphrase Winston Churchill's assessment of Russia). This novel may not be TRUTH, but it surely contains many lower-case truths about one of the monsters of our sad century. Even aside from the issue of its veracity, this is simply an enthralling read, an artistic, sophisticated and beatifully plotted and executed attempt to plumb the depths of this particular darkness. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Adam

Fantastic!

March 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Loved it!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Andrew C Rocker

Extremely engaging reading.

April 8, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The author gets inside Stalin's head and explains how he justified his crimes to himself and his inner circle.

It all rings true. Sometimes it made me flinch but even so it was an extremely engaging read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Tad

Unbelievably Awful Novel with a title meant to trick buyers that it's nonfiction, which it's not.

April 7, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Almost unbelievably awful novel. From the first myopic dull page to page 78 where I literally stood and stuffed this into a trash can. Can't criticize this enough. It's as if the guy had never written fiction before or nonfiction either, or his name in the dirt. Author thought he was clever calling this Stalins Autobiography and I'm sure many folks were fooled.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Jose Carlos Romero

Trash

December 11, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The book is a piece of trash. Amazon advertised the book just by the headings of the title, but in reality it is a "novel" with no historical meaning. I bought it cheap so I did the best with this book and I placed it in the recycling bin.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

JMW

This is a blackly comic novel about a blackly evil man, masked as an autobiography by the dictator himself

June 21, 2018

Format: Paperback

All of these years later (the book was written in about 2000), this remains one of the funniest, though also painful, books I have ever read. It is funny because Lourie beautifully imitates Stalin's imaginary voice -- it is an act of comic impersonation. It is painful because the real Stalin, and the Stalin of this book, were both such absolutely awful human beings. There is a lot of learning which informs this book, so one re-experiences the life and times of Stalin through the deaths of Lenin and Trotsky from the oddest and most warped perspective possible - the imaginary memoir of Stalin himself, both talking to himself and to history. I recommend it to anyone who has read enough Russian history to be able to be amused and horried at the same time by the Dictator Talking to Himself. It makes me wonder what Lourie could do with other dangerous and eccentric authoritarian leaders. Like some of the people around today. Notably, Lourie's most recent book is a non-fiction one, a profile of Putin and Putin's Russia which is sufficiently sobering it made me reach for a bottle.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novel

Set up a giveaway

Buy New

$14.08

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Buy Used

$9.74

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novel Paperback – October 1, 2000

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

32 customer reviews

Review this product

Read reviews that mention

Showing 1-8 of 32 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Buy New $14.08

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Buy Used $9.74

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novel Paperback – October 1, 2000

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

32 customer reviews

Review this product

Read reviews that mention

Showing 1-8 of 32 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Buy New

$14.08

Buy Used

$9.74