Young Stalin

Opis książki:

Russian historian and author Montefiore presents an exciting, exemplary biography of the nondescript peasant boy who would become the most ruthless leader in Soviet history, a prequel of sorts to his Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. Born in 1878 in the Caucasus of Georgia to an overprotective mother (who had already lost two sons) and a father opposed to education ("Im a shoemaker and my son will be one too"), Stalin possessed a talent for poetry and mischief. Amidst his moms trysts (with men she hoped would further Stalins education), his fathers alcohol-fueled violence and the powder-keg environment of the Caucasus, Stalin turned from priesthood training to gang life and petty crime. As he grew, so did his hatred of Tsarist Russia, leading him to meet the initial Bolsheviks, and to more spectacular and violent capers. From the start, Stalin proved a remarkable talent for meticulous planning, a skill that would become vital to the revolutionaries and, later, to his iron-fisted reign. Using recently opened records, Montefiore turns up intriguing new information (like the "Fagin-like" role he played among "a prepubescent revolutionary street intelligence" network), Montefiore captures in an absorbing narrative both Stalins conflicted character-marked by powerful charisma and deep paranoia-and the revolutions early years with stunning clarity.

Książka "Young Stalin" - Simon Sebag Montefiore - oprawa miękka - Wydawnictwo Phoenix. Książka posiada 442 stron i została wydana w 2008 r.