-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Young Stalin
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Young Stalin for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'this terrific and terrifying biography of the years to 1917.' (THE INDEPENDENT )
'It shares with its predecessor (STALIN THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR) the virtues of fine prose, empathy with a rich range of characters and narrative of great ability.' (Ross Leckie, THE TIMES )
'brilliantly readable history of Stalin.....Sebag Montefiore's re-creation of the world in which his subject's picaresque career unfolded is wonderfully detailed and convincing, and the portrait he paints of an egotistical monster in the making is unforgettable.' (Pick of the Week in THE SUNDAY TIMES )
'this lively and accomplished account of Stalin's "gangsterish", pre-revolutionary youth, which draws on material from newly opened archives.' (THE GUARDIAN )
'bring[ing] to life the unnerving 'young man with the burning eyes'' (THE OBSERVER )
'This colourful account...is a gripping read as well as faultlessly scholarly' (THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'this zippy prequel' (EVENING STANDARD )
'gripping account....... An excellent companion to Montefiore's previous bestseller' (BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE )
'a thrilling portrait of Lenin's chief gangster and successor.' (DAILY EXPRESS )
'It shares with its predecessor (STALIN THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR) the virtues of fine prose, empathy with a rich range of characters and narrative of great ability.' (Ross Leckie, THE TIMES )
'brilliantly readable history of Stalin.....Sebag Montefiore's re-creation of the world in which his subject's picaresque career unfolded is wonderfully detailed and convincing, and the portrait he paints of an egotistical monster in the making is unforgettable.' (Pick of the Week in THE SUNDAY TIMES )
'this lively and accomplished account of Stalin's "gangsterish", pre-revolutionary youth, which draws on material from newly opened archives.' (THE GUARDIAN )
'bring[ing] to life the unnerving 'young man with the burning eyes'' (THE OBSERVER )
'This colourful account...is a gripping read as well as faultlessly scholarly' (THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'this zippy prequel' (EVENING STANDARD )
'gripping account....... An excellent companion to Montefiore's previous bestseller' (BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE )
'a thrilling portrait of Lenin's chief gangster and successor.' (DAILY EXPRESS )
Book Description
Vital prequel to the internationally best-selling biography STALIN: COURT OF THE RED TSAR
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was really surprised by my reaction to this book. Like pretty much any sane person I consider Stalin to be one of the great tyrants of history. A brutal murderer; paranoid, violent and cruel. However, reading the story of his early years I often found myself rooting for him in his struggles with the Tsarist police, brutal teachers and violent father.
He comes across, at least to start with, as a romantic character. He was an excellent writer and poet, and was loyal to his friends and his women. He saw injustice and fought against it with all his strength. But over time his brutal upbringing and his resulting lack of trust in others began to take over. In the end the sympathetic traits are consumed by paranoia and hatred, and this book is a wonderful description of how this transformation happened.
A really exciting story and a brilliant case study in the formative events of a unique criminal psychopathology.
He comes across, at least to start with, as a romantic character. He was an excellent writer and poet, and was loyal to his friends and his women. He saw injustice and fought against it with all his strength. But over time his brutal upbringing and his resulting lack of trust in others began to take over. In the end the sympathetic traits are consumed by paranoia and hatred, and this book is a wonderful description of how this transformation happened.
A really exciting story and a brilliant case study in the formative events of a unique criminal psychopathology.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A must read. Stuffed with hidden, longlost references, notes letters and quotes, personal family interviews and reference to memoirs including recently revealed FSB documents.
Stalin is revealed as likely the most extraordinarily capable and brilliant of dictators in world history.
A complex, often cold and taciturn man with hot Caucasian temperament, yet mainly lacking in expressive human warmth. A young man with a burning, all consuming conviction in his own destiny.
Reared in brawling Gori in Georgia, this brilliant childhood academic nicknamed 'Chopura', the 'pockmarked one' spent years in a Seminary as a ravenous teenage reader, capable poet, enthralled by the Bolshevik ideology that eventually drew him out, or got him thrown out of the Seminary.
Embarking on Georgian Revolutionary activities, he was always surrounded by Thugs and Psychopaths for friends, traits his Communist Party Colleagues would show in abundance years later under his leadership. These were men of unbridled, though well planned violence.
His astonishing appetite for learning ultimately ensured a well read library of 20,000+ books. An blend of intellectual and terrorist ideologue, he suffered permanently from childhood injuries. A brachial plexus avulsion must have caused his withered left arm, that amongst other features, left him a sullen and touchy man in constant pain.
Yet attractive to woman, though limited emotionally and with infrequent expressions of affection, (by contemporary European as a pose to Caucasian expectations of male behaviour), he sired several children with a lusty appetite. His highly analytical, and deeply well read mind versed in Religion, Philosophy and Politics and profound grasp of Literature and Literary Criticism, and his capability in action made him first master of the Caucasus, and then indispensible to his one lifelong constant source of admiration- Lenin.
Stalin, or Soso, Soselo or Beso was an extraordinarily gifted, brilliant and complex man. A man that in different times may have offered the world something very different to the Stalinist Nightmare that is his legacy.
The times Stalin lived in were intense, and intensely hard. Dictatorship is not the preserve of men like Stalin alone. It is everywhere in small seemingly innocuous packets. Marriage, parenthood, the workplace, society.
Stalin managed to inject the totalitarian state into all of these aspects with the demonic energies of a man who spent a full 20 years in exile, prison and on the run in the Pre-Revolutionary years, prior to even coming near power.
Montefiore brings, or rather allows to life this restless angrily burning young man who has indeed fulfilled his own prophecies, and who history will judge one day on a Par with Chingiz Khan, Alexander the Great. Great men of great terror...
Stalin is revealed as likely the most extraordinarily capable and brilliant of dictators in world history.
A complex, often cold and taciturn man with hot Caucasian temperament, yet mainly lacking in expressive human warmth. A young man with a burning, all consuming conviction in his own destiny.
Reared in brawling Gori in Georgia, this brilliant childhood academic nicknamed 'Chopura', the 'pockmarked one' spent years in a Seminary as a ravenous teenage reader, capable poet, enthralled by the Bolshevik ideology that eventually drew him out, or got him thrown out of the Seminary.
Embarking on Georgian Revolutionary activities, he was always surrounded by Thugs and Psychopaths for friends, traits his Communist Party Colleagues would show in abundance years later under his leadership. These were men of unbridled, though well planned violence.
His astonishing appetite for learning ultimately ensured a well read library of 20,000+ books. An blend of intellectual and terrorist ideologue, he suffered permanently from childhood injuries. A brachial plexus avulsion must have caused his withered left arm, that amongst other features, left him a sullen and touchy man in constant pain.
Yet attractive to woman, though limited emotionally and with infrequent expressions of affection, (by contemporary European as a pose to Caucasian expectations of male behaviour), he sired several children with a lusty appetite. His highly analytical, and deeply well read mind versed in Religion, Philosophy and Politics and profound grasp of Literature and Literary Criticism, and his capability in action made him first master of the Caucasus, and then indispensible to his one lifelong constant source of admiration- Lenin.
Stalin, or Soso, Soselo or Beso was an extraordinarily gifted, brilliant and complex man. A man that in different times may have offered the world something very different to the Stalinist Nightmare that is his legacy.
The times Stalin lived in were intense, and intensely hard. Dictatorship is not the preserve of men like Stalin alone. It is everywhere in small seemingly innocuous packets. Marriage, parenthood, the workplace, society.
Stalin managed to inject the totalitarian state into all of these aspects with the demonic energies of a man who spent a full 20 years in exile, prison and on the run in the Pre-Revolutionary years, prior to even coming near power.
Montefiore brings, or rather allows to life this restless angrily burning young man who has indeed fulfilled his own prophecies, and who history will judge one day on a Par with Chingiz Khan, Alexander the Great. Great men of great terror...
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great biography. It's fast moving, full of action and Montefiore really brings the young Stalin to life as you flick from page to spell-binding page.
You find yourself at turns liking the passion and charisma of the protagonist, and then repelled by his nascent cruelty and emotional coldness.
This book really explodes the myth that Stalin was simply a "grey blur" before he began to seize power in the 1920's. He was a competent, intelligent and experienced revolutionary, who was important to Lenin and popular with the party grass roots. His drive and personal magnetism are awe-inspiring, and Sebag Montefiore's book is an exercise in demonstrating how true greatness is born.
I can't wait to read the author's book on Stalin's later life, "The Court of the Red Tsar".
You find yourself at turns liking the passion and charisma of the protagonist, and then repelled by his nascent cruelty and emotional coldness.
This book really explodes the myth that Stalin was simply a "grey blur" before he began to seize power in the 1920's. He was a competent, intelligent and experienced revolutionary, who was important to Lenin and popular with the party grass roots. His drive and personal magnetism are awe-inspiring, and Sebag Montefiore's book is an exercise in demonstrating how true greatness is born.
I can't wait to read the author's book on Stalin's later life, "The Court of the Red Tsar".
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A major caveat
This is an excellent biography of the young Stalin, unearthing a vast amount of hitherto unknown history. Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. Dean
BRILLIANT
One of the most brilliant books I have read. Montefiore has uncovered a mass of hitherto unknown details on Stalin's youth. Read more
Published 4 months ago by James Stuart
Young Stalin - the
Stalin's early years brought to life..
A great book that gives the background to his early life in violent Georgia, Siberian exile and revolutionary Czarist Russia. Read more
A great book that gives the background to his early life in violent Georgia, Siberian exile and revolutionary Czarist Russia. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Caesar45
THE EARLY YEARS OF THE PSYCHOPATH, STALIN
This is really a very interesting work in its blend of lesser known facts about Stalin's early life, delivered in an easy read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Michael JR Jose
The best non-fiction I have ever read
I think the title of this review says it all. Absolutely outstanding. I am amazed to see that some people have given this book as low as one or two stars! Read more
Published 15 months ago by StepanTimofeevich
From Soso to Stalin
An excellent, thoroughly researched biography of the young life of one of the most appalling tyrants of the 20th Century, the man who we have all come to know by his final... Read more
Published 15 months ago by G. J. Marsh
An excellent book, a superlative biography.
I read Catherine the Great and Potemkin by Sebag Montefiore and loved it. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to read also his Young Stalin, a subject that in other circumstances... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lupo
Unlovable Rogue
It almost seems wrong that a book about such a terrible man as Stalin should be so enjoyable.
It also gives a great insight into life in Georgia at the time and the... Read more
It also gives a great insight into life in Georgia at the time and the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by The Emperor
Great stuff
A marvellously readable account of Stalin's early years, the political and the personal. This is a perfect companion volume to his Court of the Red Tsar. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2010 by John Hopper
Stalin the Wonder Boy - With One Mighty Bound He Was Free!
If you fancy a good adventure story, written at a galloping pace, then this is for you. If you fancy a serious biography, then it is not. Read more
Published on 25 Dec 2009 by John Fitzpatrick
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1901 Onwards
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Russia
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Russia
- Books > History > Europe
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
