Stalin and His Times is a fair look at Stalin's rise to power and his totalitarian ruling of Russia. Adams never completely praises what Stalin did, but neither does he ever completely condemn him. Most historians gloss over the achievements that Stalin forced through and, rather, focus on the mass terror and death that accompanied the progress. Adams balances the two, never making excuses for the atrocities committed by Stalin's regime, but also pointing out that the modernization that occurred under Stalin. Still, maybe because it was written in 1972 and it was not known yet, or because of length constraints, Adams never gives statistics involving the number of people sent to the Gulags, or the minority groups sent into forced relocation. Ultimately, the reader gets a decent understanding of Stalin's Russia. However, it is not a book that I would recommend to new readers of Russian history. There are other history texts that while less kind to Stalin, nonetheless, cover more information in greater depth. ( )