Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57914 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 734 pages

Sunday Times
This is a meticulous and important book

Mail on Sunday
..offers a more dynamic and complex figure than previous biographies.. Here in unprecedented detail, is an authoritative account

Daily Express
a masterly biography..Authorative and compelling

Customer Reviews

Excellent book
This is a really good book. While Stalin may be a character who it's hard to empathise with, Service approaches the topic with complete objectiity, leaving the reader to make up their own minds on the facts. The book is divided into nearly 50 chapters of ten to twelve pages each, which makes it easier to digest each separate issue and event the author addresses. Overall, great book for anyone keen on knowing more about Stalin.

Too close for comfort
This is well worth a read, although at times you may need to take a break from it as , by the very nature of its subject, it can be depressing. You really sense that Service has got into the mind of Stalin, but rather than sensationalising his material, he presents his research with a cool, detatched approach. By the end you have some undertanding of the system, ideology and paranoia that allowed Stalin to pursue his enemies, although Service never for one moment excuses Stalin, and his huge culpability for the crimes of his regime. Apart from the appaling catalogue of evils to his name, there are also numerous jaw-dropping moments at Stalin's rank incompetence. A terrible warning for us all.

An excellent biography of a man who shaped history
Stalin by Robert Service is a very readable account of the life of the infamous dictator. It is certainly the best biography of Stalin I have read because it puts the man in conttext and does not try to put across an overtly political message. Serious students of Stalin may want something with a bit more detail but this is in my opinion the definative biography of Stalin which is accessible to all.