From the New York Times bestselling author of The RomanovsтАФand one of our pre-eminent historiansтАФcomes тАЬa meticulously researched, authoritative biographyтАЭ (The New York Times), the companion volume to the prize-winning Stalin, and essential reading for anyone interested in Russian history.┬а
This revelatory account unveils how Stalin became Stalin, examining his shadowy journey from obscurity to powerтАФfrom master historian Simon Sebag Montefiore.
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Based on ten years of research, Young Stalin is a brilliant prehistory of the USSR, a chronicle of the Revolution, and an intimate biography.┬а Montefiore tells the story of a charismatic, darkly turbulent boy born into poverty, scarred by his upbringing but possessed of unusual talents. Admired as a romantic poet and trained as a priest, he found his true mission as a murderous revolutionary. Here is the dramatic story of his friendships and hatreds, his many love affairs, his complicated relationship with the Tsarist secret police, and how he became the merciless politician who shaped the Soviet Empire in his own brutal image.