I was hoping to learn more about Stalin and about the evolution of the Russian revolution. This lengthy book is excellent on both counts. I did not find repetitive or boring. It is well written. But don't open it from idle curiosity. Wikipedia has good articles on the revolution and on Stalin.

My view of Stalin from wide reading is changed considerably; he was more clever, talented and widely read than I knew, and importantly was willing consistently to work long and hard for the Marxist-Leninist cause with no immediate reward and under continual threat from the Tsar's police. He was jailed and exiled to Siberia several times. There were hints of his potential for cruelty and vengeance, but there was limited opportunity for those until after the October 1917 revolution, which is where this volume ends. He had also an excellent memory, later to the detriment of anyone who had ever crossed him.

You will see the genius of Lenin at work and his excellent perception of political and popular currents, timing, and iron focus. It appears quite possible that the October revolution itself, comprising events involving mostly one city, St. Petersburg, may never have come about without the war and the revulsion it finally engendered among the soldiers and populace. And the soldiers had guns.

Prior familiarity with some of the Russians is helpful with their many names. I did not keep track of all of them (many of whom came and went), which was not troublesome, but recognized the more important ones who were significant after the revolution. Names like Kamenev and Zinoviev, not to mention Trotsky and Molotov. Stalin had three of these murdered after 1935, Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940 with an ice ax.

There were complicated and evolving cross-currents and alliances coursing through Russia leading up to the revolution: for example among social classes, political parties, labor federations, and the various territories such as Ukraine and Georgia, where Stalin was born. The author handled the difficulties well. ( )