Stalin, Volume 1

Stalin, Vol. 1: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin is a massive volume that meticulously surveys the trajectory of the life of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in more detail than most existing biographies. Covering the period up to 1928, when Stalin embarked on the forced collectivization of agriculture, this book goes beyond mere biography.

Kotkin places Stalin in a global (or at least Eurasian) geopolitical context, telling “the story of Russia’s power in the world and Stalin’s power in Russia, recast as the Soviet Union.”