
Stalin, Volume I
Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
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Narrated by:
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Paul Hecht
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By:
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Stephen Kotkin
About this listen
A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world. It has the quality of myth: A poor cobbler's son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian Empire, reinvents himself as a revolutionary and finds a leadership role within a small group of marginal zealots. When the old world is unexpectedly brought down in a total war, the band seizes control of the country, and the new regime it founds as the vanguard of a new world order is ruthlessly dominated from within by the former seminarian until he stands as the absolute ruler of a vast and terrible state apparatus, with dominion over Eurasia. We think we know the story well. Remarkably, Stephen Kotkin's epic new biography shows us how much we still have to learn.
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted: the root-and-branch uprooting and collectivization of agriculture and industry across the entire Soviet Union. To stand up to the capitalists he will force into being an industrialized, militarized, collectivized great power is an act of will. Millions will die, and many more will suffer, but Stalin will push through to the end against all resistance and doubts. Where did such power come from? The product of a decade of scrupulous and intrepid research, Stalin contains a host of astonishing revelations. Kotkin gives an intimate first-ever view of the Bolshevik regime’s inner geography, bringing to the fore materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police.
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Young Stalin
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Stalin tells the story of an exceptional, charismatic, darkly turbulent young man born into obscurity, fancying himself a poet and a priest, and finally embracing revolutionary idealism as his Messianic mission in life. Equal parts scholar and terrorist, a mastermind of bank robberies, extortion, piracy, and murder, he was so impressive in his brutality that Lenin made him, along with Trotsky, his chief henchman.
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Really Good Read/Listen
- By Jim on 02-20-11
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Fly For Your Life
- The Story of Spitfire & Hurricane Ace Robert Stanford Tuck
- By: Larry Forrester, S.A. Steele
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Fly For Your Life is the official biography of Royal Air Force (RAF) Ace Robert Stanford Tuck. Thrust into a leadership role amidst the chaos of the Dunkirk evacuation, Tuck would distinguish himself as one of the RAF’s elite officers becoming the first Spitfire Ace. Further challenging times for Tuck would lie ahead in the coming months when Britain was in terrible danger. Nazi Germany was planning an invasion and the fighter pilots of the RAF would be at the forefront of Britain’s defence. In what would become known as the Battle of Britain; Tuck would show relentless commitment, ...
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This book is a great .
- By cynthia on 05-10-25
By: Larry Forrester, and others
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Russia's War
- A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945
- By: Richard Overy PhD
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Russian war effort to defeat invading Axis powers, an effort that assembled the largest military force in recorded history and that cost the lives of more than twenty-five million Soviet soldiers and civilians, was the decisive factor for securing an Allied victory. Now with access to the wealth of film archives and interview material from Russia used to produce the ten-hour television documentary Russia's War, Richard Overy tackles the many persuasive questions surrounding this conflict.
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A gripping tale of incredible, consuming tragedy
- By Rodney W. Schmisseur on 06-09-24
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Caesar
- Life of a Colossus
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of Julius Caesar's life, Adrian Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor's accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but also lesser-known chapters. Ultimately, Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of Caesar's character and shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate some 2,000 years later.
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Caesar and his times
- By Mike From Mesa on 08-31-15
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The First World War
- A Complete History
- By: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
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Unbiased true facts of the first world war
- By troy a myers on 07-27-20
By: Martin Gilbert
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Stalin
- The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives
- By: Edvard Radzinsky
- Narrated by: David McCallum
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Abridged
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The Kremlin intrigues, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class, Radzinsky thrillingly brings them to life. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might, and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history, is solved.
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A Great Book About a Great Tyrant
- By Moon Man on 05-01-05
By: Edvard Radzinsky
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Fateful Choices
- Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Bruce Mann
- Length: 27 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The newest immensely original undertaking from the historian who gave us the defining two-volume portrait of Hitler, Fateful Choices puts Ian Kershaw's analytical and storytelling gifts on dazzling display. From May 1940 to December 1941, the leaders of the world's six major powers made a series of related decisions that determined the final outcome of World War II and shaped the course of human destiny.
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Extraordinary
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-02-20
By: Ian Kershaw
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Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Once described by Mao Zedong as a "needle inside a ball of cotton", Deng was the pragmatic yet disciplined driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late 20th century. He confronted the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, dissolved Mao's cult of personality, and loosened the policies that had stunted China's growth. Obsessed with modernization, Deng opened trade relations with the West, which lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet he also answered to his authoritarian roots, most notably when he ordered the crackdown in 1989 at Tiananmen Square.
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Another butcher of the Chinese language
- By Jack Hanson on 09-19-21
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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Stalin as Revolutionary 1879-1929
- A Study in History and Personality
- By: Robert C. Tucker
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 19 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The first of two biographical volumes, Professor Robert C. Tucker covers Stalin's life from his first revolutionary years until the end of the 1920s. This important period of his life is the key to understanding how a dictator is formed and how his cruel totalitarian regime was born. With an in-depth analysis of Stalin's personality and beliefs - set against a historical examination of Soviet society - this captivating book helps us to understand how and why Stalinism occurred.
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Phenomenal reading and insights! Thank you
- By Think on 05-28-24
By: Robert C. Tucker
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Goebbels: A Biography
- By: Peter Longerich, Alan Bance - translator, Jeremy Noakes - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal acolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers firsthand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for years to come.
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Excellent Account of the Private Goebbels, But...
- By Derek on 05-29-15
By: Peter Longerich, and others
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Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume Two
- By: Michael Burlingame
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 53 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln's presidency and the trials of the Civil War. He supplies fascinating details on the crisis over Fort Sumter and the relentless office seekers who plagued Lincoln. He introduces listeners to the president's battles with hostile newspaper editors and his quarrels with incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also interprets Lincoln's private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd, the untimely death of his son, Willie, to disease in 1862, and his recurrent anguish over the enormous human costs of the war.
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A Magnificent and Important Book
- By G. Green on 03-03-16
Thorough analysis of Russian history
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good but not great
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Wow
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The narrator was good but there tend to be very long sentences, some with more than one idea. His reading gets better over the book but he tended to run the sentences on sometimes making you scratch your head. There was a character in the book whose name sounded like O’Johnie Kidzuh. Like a mobster maybe. I don’t know the correct spelling but to my ears I liked hearing it
Great book, highly recommended
Stalin one
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Through and detailed historical analysis of Stalin’s Rise
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The Prof Unburdens Himself of All He Knows
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A must read for students of Stalin and his age
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Felt easy to absorb the names aurally vs actually reading them. Smooth, and easy to listen to voice. Definitely a long listen. Ready for volume 2
Comprehensive... and its only volume 1
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Don't know why others complained.
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A great book !
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