Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.
Lädt ... Stalin: New Biography of a Dictatorvon Oleg V. Khlevniuk
Keine Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. A satisfying sketch of the man behind the 'vozhd' while also serving as a concise, effective introduction to Soviet history up to the end of the Stalinist system. The duel narrative format, alternating between the chronological history of Bolshevik/Stalinist USSR and the life of Stalin himself, was refreshing and imbued the book with a fast tempo. However, I was unimpressed with Khlevniuk's weak dismissal of the claims made by newer generations of Soviet historians who assert that Stalin had developed an offensive grand-strategy centered around invading Europe after Hitler and the western powers had exhausted themselves, but that this plan was interrupted by a pre-emptive German offensive in the summer of '41. Khlevniuk simply states that, "Convincing evidence that Stalin planned to go on the offensive has yet to surface. There is no serious basis for revising the traditional view that Stalin was fatally indecisive and even befuddled in the face of the growing threat." Khlevniuk's wholesale refusal to at least describe the other side of the debate was disappointing. From the point that I realized Khlevniuk wouldn't discuss this alternative hypothesis, even if only to disprove it, my interest in the book declined. There IS evidence for this alternative theory of Stalin's grand-strategic intentions, and if there is a reason to disbelief this thesis, Khlevniuk should have given it to us, rather than just hand-waving away even the possibility of a discussion. A solid, even very good biography of Stalin and introduction to early Soviet history, but for readers familiar with current historiographical debates within the field of Soviet history, the book feels unsatisfying -- even unfair. Zeige 2 von 2 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zu Verlagsreihen
The most authoritative and engrossing biography of the notorious dictator ever written 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. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)947.084History and Geography Europe Russia and eastern Europe [and formerly Finland] Russian & Slavic History by Period 1855- 1917-1953 ; Communist periodKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
Bist das du?Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor. |
Also in the running was Simon Sebag Montefiore's two-volume set which focuses more on Stalin's personal life and suggests viewing him as being more like a mafia don than a standard, if autocratic, political leader. (And having read the present work, I can see where Montefiore is coming from, although my experience with mafia dons is, shall we say, limited.)
Then there this book, Khlevniuk's single-volume bio. Given that I'm unlikely to read two multi-volume Stalin biographies and that Kotkin volume three is only allegedly on the horizon, this seemed like a decent stop-gap. Plus, it has the perk of being by a Russian historian.
Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator didn't disappoint. To my eyes, it's objective, neither castigating (though still assigning blame where the evidence supports it) nor lionizing Stalin. Obviously, if Kotkin is writing three books each of which is longer than this one, then Khlevniuk had to leave a lot out, but I didn't feel like there was anything too jarring missing. He seems to have abridged the dictator's life story judiciously.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a bio of Stalin that is recent and written by a respected historian with access to the Soviet archives, but who doesn't want to take on one of the multivolume affairs that otherwise meet those requirements.
( )