'A comprehensive, deeply researched study of one of the world's most brutal dictators as he took the paths that would lead him to power.' - Kirkus, starred review
This is the definitive biography of Joseph Stalin from his birth to the October Revolution of 1917, a panoramic and often chilling account of how an impoverished, idealistic youth from the provinces of tsarist Russia was transformed into a cunning and fearsome outlaw who would one day become one of the twentieth century's most ruthless dictators. In this monumental book, Ronald Grigor Suny sheds light on the least understood years of Stalin's career, bringing to life the turbulent world in which he lived and the extraordinary historical events that shaped him
"This is Suny's magnum opus, the product of decades of scholarly research."
---Duncan Bowie, Chartist
