Stalin

The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives

By: Edvard Radzinsky

Narrated by: David McCallum

From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has fully obtained: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion.

As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalin's epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalin's long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Union's Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalin's private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide.

As he did in The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class-all become, in Radzinsky's hands, as gripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might--and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history--is solved.© and (P)1996 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

How instilling fear creates dictatorship

I liked the narrative. The accuracy of the history Probably the most accurate story of Stalin’s life

A chillling tale of terror

It chills your spine to hear of Stalin's cruelty to his people and to his loyal servants. To live under Stalin must have been an experience from Alice in Wonderland where yes meant no and no yes. Talk about walking on egg shells; working with Stalin was simply risking your life every day, not knowing when he would turn on you for a trifle. I enjoyed the author's research in the now opened Stalin era archives and his honesty about how they have been cleansed so that one cannot take the documents at their face value. Many have been removed.

This was a fine companion to my listening to the Gulag Archipeligo.

A Great Book About a Great Tyrant

I have been a periodic reader of Soviet history for the past three decades. With the opening of the various secret Soviet archives to certain researchers came the possiblity of better understanding of that which had only been speculated in the past, the "back-story" history of the revolution and the coming to power of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and the succession of Koba Stalin. Prior to Radzinsky's book, I had read Dmitri Volkogonov's definitive history - STALIN: TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY. Radzinsky's book brings, I believe, a more coherant and understandble story of Stalin's rise. Which author, Volkogonov or Radzinsky, is more correct in their presentation of Stalin? I cannot say. For the most part, their stories are complementary. I found Radzinsky to be more readable, more organized. This is an excellent book which I recommend highly to those interested in Soviet history.

Now, about David McCallum's narration of this book: Brilliant. I have neaver heard a more perfect match of a book with a narrator. The pace, the phrasing, the nuance, the innuendo built into the reading was excellent. I was so impressed by McCallum's reading that I had hoped to find other historical volumes narrated by him. I'm sorry to say that I found only novels.

Highly recommend!

Informative, entertaining, fascinating and eye-opening. A must-read for anyone interested in psychopaths or Soviet history!

A Worthwhile Listen/Read

First listen to Young Stalin by Montefiore, to get the most details of Stalin's amazing first thirty years. Then read Radzinsky, who does not write as much detail but speculates about Stalin's motives and personality from a Russian perspective. The two compliment one another like peanut butter and chocolate.