Drawing on a wealth of unexplored material
- available for the first time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union
- Robert Service's biography of Stalin is the most authoritative yet published It concentrates not simply on Stalin as dedicated bureaucrat or serial political killer but on a fuller assessment of his formative interactions in Georgia his youthful revolutionary activism his relationship with Lenin with his family & with his party members ' This is effectively the first full biography since perestroika to encompass the economic political diplomatic military administrative & above all ideological
Dimensions as well as the personal aspects of Stalin's colossal life Gritty & unshowy but enlightened by Service's compelling characterisation magisterial analysis & dry wit this outstanding biography of lightly worn authority wide research & superb intuition will be read for decades' Simon Sebag Montefiore author of STALIN The Court of the Red Tsar Sunday Times