Stalin

  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.

 

Stalin was once described – by Hitler – as “half beast, half giant”.  His tyrannical rule of the Soviet Unionwas one of the bloodiest episodes in the modern history of the world.  How did a man once regarded by his rivals as intellectually inferior come to achieve near-divine status as dictator of the largest country in the world?

 

In this concise biography, Hiroaki Kuromiya argues that the key to understanding the enigma of Stalin lies in his unadulterated political ambition.  Subordinating all private emotion to his quest for power, Stalin was able to order the deaths of people close to him without sentimentality for the sake of his political goals. Stalin’s use of terror as a political action is lucidly and systematically explained: how he viewed political terror, why he used it so extensively, and how he felt about the deaths of millions.  Employing his extensive research into recently uncovered documents on Stalin’s life, Kuromiya reflects the current state of knowledge in the field.  The establishment of the Soviet Unionchanged the world order irreversibly.  Kuromiya argues that without understanding Stalin, one cannot understand the twentieth century.

 

 

Hiroaki Kuromiya is Professor of History at Indiana University. He has been researching and writing about the period of Stalin's rule for nearly thirty years and is author of Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928-1932 (1988) and Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian--Russian Borderland, 1870s--1990s (1998).

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

 

  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.

 

Stalin was once described – by Hitler – as “half beast, half giant”.  His tyrannical rule of the Soviet Unionwas one of the bloodiest episodes in the modern history of the world.  How did a man once regarded by his rivals as intellectually inferior come to achieve near-divine status as dictator of the largest country in the world?

 

In this concise biography, Hiroaki Kuromiya argues that the key to understanding the enigma of Stalin lies in his unadulterated political ambition.  Subordinating all private emotion to his quest for power, Stalin was able to order the deaths of people close to him without sentimentality for the sake of his political goals. Stalin’s use of terror as a political action is lucidly and systematically explained: how he viewed political terror, why he used it so extensively, and how he felt about the deaths of millions.  Employing his extensive research into recently uncovered documents on Stalin’s life, Kuromiya reflects the current state of knowledge in the field.  The establishment of the Soviet Unionchanged the world order irreversibly.  Kuromiya argues that without understanding Stalin, one cannot understand the twentieth century.

 

 

Hiroaki Kuromiya is Professor of History at Indiana University. He has been researching and writing about the period of Stalin's rule for nearly thirty years and is author of Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928-1932 (1988) and Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian--Russian Borderland, 1870s--1990s (1998).

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.

•  The author has worked on Stalin's rule for nearly 30 years.
• This title complements the other titles in the Profiles in Power series.
• The complementary title in the Seminar Studies series Stalin and Stalinism sold over 5000 copies worldwide.
• There are over 300 Russian studies courses in the UK.
• Takes an unusual angle-fuses his politics with psychology.

This biography presents the enigmatic and extraordinary life of Stalin and explains why and how he became one of the most powerful Communist leaders of his time.

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

Profile in Power Series

In recent years historians have been preoccupied with broad questions of structure and process, and many have become suspicious of biography and the `Great Man approach to history.

On the other hand many students and readers continue to be drawn to history by an interest in individuals. This ambitious and wide-ranging series provides critical studies of key figures in international political history since 1500. The books are not biographies, though inevitably they contain much biographical material; rather they are succinct interpretative essays, analysing the major features of the career within the context of its own time.

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).

1. From Georgia to Russia

2. Revolutions and Civil War

3. Struggle for Power

4. `Revolution from Above'

5. Famine and Terror

6. War

7. Gotterdammerung