LEADER 04518cam a22004818i 4500001 18345048 005 20151111201233.0 008 141023m20149999nyu b 001 0beng 003 hubpceuo 010 2014032906 020 9781594203794 (hardback) 040 DLC |beng |cDLC |erda 042 pcc 043 e-ur--- 050 00 DK268.S8 |bK65 2014 082 00 947.084/2092 |223 084 BIO011000HIS032000 |2bisacsh 100 1 Kotkin, Stephen. 242 |yEnglish 245 10 Stalin / |cStephen Kotkin. 260 New York : |bPenguin Press, |c2014. 300 xiii, 949 p. : |bill. ; |c24 cm. 337 unmediated 504 Includes bibliographical references and index. 505 1 Volume I. Paradoxes of power, 1878-1928. 520 2 "A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world. It has the quality of myth: a poor cobbler's son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian empire, reinvents himself as a top leader in a band of revolutionary zealots. When the band seizes control of the country in the aftermath of total world war, the former seminarian ruthlessly dominates the new regime until he stands as absolute ruler of a vast and terrible state apparatus, with dominion over Eurasia. While still building his power base within the Bolshevik dictatorship, he embarks upon the greatest gamble of his political life and the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted: the collectivization of all agriculture and industry across one sixth of the earth. Millions will die, and many more millions will suffer, but the man will push through to the end against all resistance and doubts. Where did such power come from? In Stalin, Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. The character of Stalin emerges as both astute and blinkered, cynical and true believing, people oriented and vicious, canny enough to see through people but prone to nonsensical beliefs. We see a man inclined to despotism who could be utterly charming, a pragmatic ideologue, a leader who obsessed over slights yet was a precocious geostrategic thinker--unique among Bolsheviks--and yet who made egregious strategic blunders. Through it all, we see Stalin's unflinching persistence, his sheer force of will--perhaps the ultimate key to understanding his indelible mark on history. Stalin gives an intimate view of the Bolshevik regime's inner geography of power, bringing to the fore fresh materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police. Kotkin rejects the inherited wisdom about Stalin's psychological makeup, showing us instead how Stalin's near paranoia was fundamentally political, and closely tracks the Bolshevik revolution's structural paranoia, the predicament of a Communist regime in an overwhelmingly capitalist world, surrounded and penetrated by enemies. At the same time, Kotkin demonstrates the impossibility of understanding Stalin's momentous decisions outside of the context of the tragic history of imperial Russia. The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement, a work that recasts the way we think about the Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself"-- 600 10 Stalin, Joseph, |d1879-1953. 600 10 Stalin, Joseph, |d1879-1953 |xPsychology. 650 0 Heads of state |zSoviet Union |vBiography. 650 0 Dictators |zSoviet Union |vBiography. 650 0 Political culture |zSoviet Union |xHistory. 651 0 Soviet Union |xPolitics and government |y1917-1936. 651 0 Soviet Union |xPolitics and government |y1936-1953. 651 0 Soviet Union |xHistory |y1925-1953. 856 42 |3Cover image |uftp://ppftpuser:welcome@ftp01.penguingroup.com/Booksellers and Media/Covers/2008_2009_New_Covers/9781594203794.jpg 906 7 |bcbc |corignew |d1 |eecip |f20 |gy-gencatlg 942 |2ddc |cBK 955 |brf14 2014-10-23 |irf14 2014-10-23 ONIXHAND CARRY -- NEEDED FOR CONGRESSIONAL LOAN; PLS CONTACT myar, x77835/ scar, x77717 2014-12-24 952 |00 |10 |2ddc |40 |6947_084000000000000_2092_KOT |70 |8REF |946433OSA |bOSA |d2015-05-05 |eOSA |l0 |o947.084/2092 KOT |r2015-05-05 |w2015-05-05 |yBK |cReference 920 01 KYQKm9og 992 01 947_084000000000000_2092_KOT |bQVS_ZRVZZZZZZZZZZZZ_XZQX_FB6 966 |cIn the Research Room