Stephen Kotkin / Stalin Volume I Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 FIRST EDITION

Description: Stalin, Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 FIRST EDITION Author: Kotkin, Stephen Title: Stalin, Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 FIRST EDITION Publication: New York: Penguin Press, 2014 Edition: First Edition Description: Hardcover. First Edition with full number line indicating First Printing. 9 1/2" X 6 1/2". xiii, 949pp. Mild rubbing and shelf wear to covers, corners, and edges of unclipped dust jacket. Bound in black paper over boards with spine backed in white and lettered in gilt. Pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is sound.ABOUT THIS BOOK:A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his worldIt has the quality of myth: a poor cobbler’s son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian empire, reinvents himself as a top leader in a band of revolutionary zealots. When the band seizes control of the country in the aftermath of total world war, the former seminarian ruthlessly dominates the new regime until he stands as absolute ruler of a vast and terrible state apparatus, with dominion over Eurasia. While still building his power base within the Bolshevik dictatorship, he embarks upon the greatest gamble of his political life and the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted: the collectivization of all agriculture and industry across one sixth of the earth. Millions will die, and many more millions will suffer, but the man will push through to the end against all resistance and doubts.Where did such power come from? In Stalin, Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. The character of Stalin emerges as both astute and blinkered, cynical and true believing, people oriented and vicious, canny enough to see through people but prone to nonsensical beliefs. We see a man inclined to despotism who could be utterly charming, a pragmatic ideologue, a leader who obsessed over slights yet was a precocious geostrategic thinker—unique among Bolsheviks—and yet who made egregious strategic blunders. Through it all, we see Stalin’s unflinching persistence, his sheer force of will—perhaps the ultimate key to understanding his indelible mark on history.Stalin gives an intimate view of the Bolshevik regime’s inner geography of power, bringing to the fore fresh materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police. Kotkin rejects the inherited wisdom about Stalin’s psychological makeup, showing us instead how Stalin’s near paranoia was fundamentally political, and closely tracks the Bolshevik revolution’s structural paranoia, the predicament of a Communist regime in an overwhelmingly capitalist world, surrounded and penetrated by enemies. At the same time, Kotkin demonstrates the impossibility of understanding Stalin’s momentous decisions outside of the context of the tragic history of imperial Russia.The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement, a work that recasts the way we think about the Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself.(Publisher). Good + / Good +. Seller ID: 16256 Subject: Biography & Memoir, History & Geography You are buying from Underground Books, a brick & mortar bookshop specializing in used, rare, antiquarian, and out of print materials. We are a proud member of the Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association and the Independent Online Booksellers Association. If you are ever in the West Georgia area, please visit us in Carrollton at Underground Books or in Serenbe at Hills & Hamlets Bookshop. TERMS OF SALE Payment If you win an item in one of our auctions, if your offer has been accepted, or if you have chosen to buy an item now, please make your payment as soon as possible. We will not ship until we receive notice that the buyer has paid for the item. We expect payment within 3 days or reserve the right to cancel the order. Returns and Refunds We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described in our listings. If you're dissatisfied with your purchase (Incorrect Book/Not as Described/Damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. If you've changed your mind about a book that you've ordered, please contact us, and we will respond promptly. 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Price: 82.5 USD

Location: Carrollton, Georgia

End Time: 2024-12-20T20:52:42.000Z

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