Helpful Score: 1
An absolutely fascinating book on Stalin's early life. The book starts at his birth and concludes right about 1918 as far as the main historical narrative goes, although there is a smattering of how the events encountered during this early time period affected events after the revolution.
The book is rather short (good thing) and a very, very nice read. It is not overly loaded with numbers or statistics, but at the same time is sufficiently cited that it could serve as either a good history class text or a casual read.
The book is rather short (good thing) and a very, very nice read. It is not overly loaded with numbers or statistics, but at the same time is sufficiently cited that it could serve as either a good history class text or a casual read.
I have never before read anything on Stalin, I purchased this book at used bookstore for cheap, with no expectations. This was a good book, I like biographies that almost read like novels, smooth sailing. That is exactly what this book was. Starts at his birth, goes until Lenin takes power in 1918. I highly recommend it, very interesting. loads of pictures too! I will be looking into the authors other books for sure!
A brilliant effort in research is here published, written in a readable style. Bringing his lifetime of study, the author took advantage of the fall of the Communist Party and the break up of the USSR. Dr. Montefiore visited archives in former SSRs and was guided by local scholars (see the Acknowledgements). He finds that testimony in the Moscow archives is significantly less authentic than some of the versions in local files that were recorded by the original interviewer of people who knew Stalin when the Romanovs ruled Russia. "Many ordinary folk were unconsciously revealing, particularly Stalin's girlfriends, who could not be open about their personal connections with the Leader even when they had borne his children. Many of these tales of childhood, exile, revolutionary battle and bank robberies are, I hope, useful finds for historians. Keke's memoir is especially telling. One sense that Stalin would have hated the memoir, which, again as far as I know, was not copied to Moscow and has not been published in Russian or English. I gues that Stalin was never infomred that it had been set down. But there is also a wealth of other materials that tell as much about young Stalin."
Unusual information is shared, such as "...a cook who had contrived, in an astonishing culinary career hidden in the catering shadows of the NKVD universe, to serve not only Rasputin in his early days, but also Lenin and Stalin: this world-historical chef was the grandfather of President Vladimir Putin."
Uncommon photos, footnotes, bibliography, maps, and an excellent index.
Unusual information is shared, such as "...a cook who had contrived, in an astonishing culinary career hidden in the catering shadows of the NKVD universe, to serve not only Rasputin in his early days, but also Lenin and Stalin: this world-historical chef was the grandfather of President Vladimir Putin."
Uncommon photos, footnotes, bibliography, maps, and an excellent index.
