Stalin's Library

A Dictator and His Books

By: Geoffrey Roberts

Narrated by: Stewart Crank

A compelling intellectual biography of Stalin told through his personal library.

In this engaging life of the 20th century's most self-consciously learned dictator, Geoffrey Roberts explores the books Stalin read, how he read them, and what they taught him. Stalin firmly believed in the transformative potential of words and his voracious appetite for reading guided him throughout his years. A biography as well as an intellectual portrait, this book explores all aspects of Stalin's tumultuous life and politics.

Stalin, an avid reader from an early age, amassed a surprisingly diverse personal collection of thousands of books, many of which he marked and annotated revealing his intimate thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Based on his wide-ranging research in Russian archives, Roberts tells the story of the creation, fragmentation, and resurrection of Stalin's personal library. As a true believer in communist ideology, Stalin was a fanatical idealist who hated his enemies-the bourgeoisie, kulaks, capitalists, imperialists, reactionaries, counter-revolutionaries, traitors-but detested their ideas even more.

©2022 Geoffrey Roberts (P)2022 Tantor

Fascinating

This is a truly fascinating book. It details Stalins intellectual life and his being well educated and well read.

I appreciated that the author described how Stalin was well educated in the seminary in Georgia. He shows how he was a true intellectual.

Great Story but Repetitive

Felt like the same sentances were repeated multiple times in different chapters. But very interesting overall!