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Stalin
- New Biography of a Dictator
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 18 hrs
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Stalin
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Summary
Josef Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. During that quarter century, by Oleg Khlevniuk's estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin's policies. What drove him toward such ruthlessness?
This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin, the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world history.
In brief, revealing prologues to each chapter, Khlevniuk takes his reader into Stalin's favorite dacha, where the innermost circle of Soviet leadership gathered as their vozhd lay dying. Chronological chapters then illuminate major themes: Stalin's childhood, his involvement in the Revolution and the early Bolshevik government under Lenin, his assumption of undivided power and mandate for industrialization and collectivization, the Terror, World War II, and the postwar period. At the book's conclusion, the author presents a cogent warning against nostalgia for the Stalinist era.
Cover image: "Stalin is our banner!" poster, 1948. Collection of the Russian State Library, Moscow. © Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy, Reportage/Archival image.
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What listeners say about Stalin
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rhys
- 25-05-19
A good book but a lacklustre narrator
The book itself is a good introduction to stalin, and if the author released a longer edition similar to Ian Kershaws - Hitler, I would definitely get it. However, the narrator almost made me return the book. Every sentence feels slightly isolated from the last and so there is a distinct lack of of emphasis, punctuation and a monotone intonation. I wouldn't listen to a book with this narrator again.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anthony OB
- 15-03-21
Very educational
I thoroughly enjoyed this. This was my first journey into the revolution, communism and Stalin himself. It left me in no doubt as to the evilness of the man. Unlike some other comments I thought the narrator did a good job.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kendo nagassaki
- 09-07-21
excellent..should be on every school curriculum..
every school should have this excellent study in this evil ideology.
a true warning from history that has cost millions of lives.
excellent naration
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mikko Silvennoinen
- 22-03-21
Beautiful translation
This was a wonderful 101 course on Stalin. Nora Seligman Favorov's translation was beautiful and Peter Ganim's narration was extremely clear, erudite and pleasant to listen to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alexander Hirsch
- 01-03-23
Enjoyed it more than I thought
After seeing all the dismissive reviews, I was expecting a tedious listen. Instead I found myself more engrossed than expected. This is probably more of a high-level introductory work rather than a piece of detailed analysis for the connoisseur. Still, I come away with no ideas and thoughts.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Dana Floden
- 08-05-21
Seems to be a fair biography
It becomes clear from the onset that the author is not a Stalinist. So this is a warts and all biography. Still we are able to see many sides of Stalin including that fleetness of intellect and even an ability to feign empathy. His family relations seem to be tender and gentle.
However his cruel psychopathy shine through as thr elephant in the room.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-05-21
Not the best.
The narrator isn’t good enough.
The book in itself is ok, but if you want to know about Stalin, and you want it as an audiobook, you’re better off with the book “Stalin, the court of the red tsar”, by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Alan Myers
- 11-06-19
Not bad, but...
This book is a modern review, stating that it uses new material from the ex soviet archives. It is a good general review of Stalin’s life, suitable for someone who wants to find out about this man and his life and times.
The archival material is not very prevalent throughout the book, and it is neither very illuminative nor does it give us new insights, so if you are a seasoned reader of books on this topic, it adds very little.
The narration is very good, and manages to tread a fine line between keeping the narrative flowing whilst recognising the numbers of death and human misery under discussion are truly breathtaking.
Overall, a good introductory book for the first time reader, read well.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Macksoft
- 12-04-22
An interesting story with dependable narration
An interesting story with decent narration. One major irritation was poor editing in numerous places whereby a sentence or paragraph - clearly recorded on different equipment with a completely different audio profile - had been spliced into an existing passage, and suddenly the narration sounded very different. Not the professional editing you'd expect from Audible Studios.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-06-18
Both fascinating & important
For anyone interested in the political and everyday history of the Soviet Union, this book is invaluable, as well as very interesting. It is an objective account written by an insider, an Ukrainian with access to the newly opened Soviet archives, and reveals much that was hitherto unknown about those years. He shows Stalin, the man, as well as Stalin, the dictator. I definitely recommend it for anyone who understands the importance of history.
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7 people found this helpful