This profile looks at how Stalin, despite being regarded as intellectually inferior by his rivals, managed to rise to power and rule the largest country in the world, achievieving divine-like status as a dictator.

Through recently uncovered research material and Stalin's archives in Moscow, Kuromiya analyzes how and why Stalin was a rare, even unique, politician who literally lived by politics alone. He analyses how Stalin understood psychology campaigns well and how he used this understanding in his political reign and terror. Kuromiya provides a convincing, concise and up-to-date analysis of Stalin's political life.

A mostrous tyrant, Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union was one of the bloodiest episodes in modern history. This profile looks at how, regarded as intellectually inferior by his rivals, Stalin managed to rise to power and rule the largest country in the world and achieve divine-like status as a dictator.

About the Author

Educated in Japan and US, Hiroaki Kuromiya worked as a research fellow at King's College, Cambridge, 1986-1990 . He ahs worked on the period of Stalin's rule for nearly thirty years. His previous publications include, Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928-1932 (1988) and Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian-Russian Borderland, 1870s-1990s (1998).

Reviews

Kuromiya's Stalin is a masterful and concise account, impressively researched, clearly written, poised and persuasive in its analysis.

Professor Orlando Figes, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Professor Kuromiya is fully steeped in the new sources and fresh historiography of the fearsome dictator. He makes ample use of his earlier pioneering research on Soviet history as well as new documents declassified from the Soviet archives. [This] is the best short biography of Stalin that we have.

Professor Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University.

"This book provides such knowledge and deserves to be widely read. Many readers will learn a lot from it. Students on many courses will find it valuable".

Michael Ellman, Amsterdam University

"Thoughtful, balanced and accessible. A welcome addition to the literature on the general secretary, as it combines a persuasive, flexible thesis with a terse, thorough and up-to-date accounting of Stalin's career".

David Brandenberger, University of Richmond

Book Information
ISBN 9780582784796
Author Hiroaki Kuromiya
Format Paperback
Page Count 246
Imprint Longman
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 400g