Young Stalin Audiobook By Simon Sebag Montefiore cover art

Young Stalin

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Young Stalin

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Narrated by: James Adams
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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.

Here is Stalin the supreme dictator in the making - his psychology, his loves and hatreds, his intellectual interests, his knowledge of the world - learning how to triumph in the Kremlin and create the USSR in his profoundly flawed image.

Based on exhaustive research and astonishing new evidence, Young Stalin is a brilliant prehistory of the USSR from the perspective of those who would bring it into being.

©2007 Simon Sebag Montefiore (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc. Historical Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State Russia Russian & Soviet World Soviet Union

Critic reviews

"On practically every page of Young Stalin there is a reason to smile with satisfaction at the thrust of revelation and often a reason to gasp or even to chuckle. As quasi-academic populist biography goes, therefore, this is as good as it gets." ( Independent)
" Young Stalin is a gripping read....Montefiore's research, especially in the Georgian archives, is brilliant. The book provides a wealth of serious and scurrilous detail, creating a memorable portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest monsters." ( Telegraph)
Gripping Narrative • Detailed Research • Complex Personality • Rich Biography • Informative Details • Breezy Delivery
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Would you listen to Young Stalin again? Why?

I might to catch up on chatpers I might have missed.

What did you like best about this story?

Knowing who was who in Stalin's life.

What about James Adams’s performance did you like?

I liked the whole thing honestly.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

NOt really, but I had no idea Joseph was such a womanizer.

Any additional comments?

A must have for any history fan.

Stalin's life before He came to power now revealed

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as 20th century villains go, stalin is a much richer topic for biography than most of the other leading contenders, especially hitler. here's a guy who abandoned what would likely have been a successful career in the arts--stalin was a published poet several times over--when it became clear he had a knack for politics, as opposed to hitler, who embarked on a career of political charlatanry after failing as an artist.

of his biographers, i think simon sebag montefiore best understands the paradox of stalin--how a dude responsible for the starvation of tens of millions of his country's peasants, not to mention engineering a climate of extreme paranoia amongst his own ruling class still manages to command the reverence that stalin does to this day in the former soviet union. stalin's erudition, his magnetism and his tireless working habits, not to mention his role in keeping his country united and standing up to hitler's armies even as his country bore the brunt of the violence of ww2, all add up to a figure who is as much an object of fascination as of revulsion.

the narrative here is gripping and sebag montefiore's access to previously unavailable archives means this book is a trove of previously overlooked information on the early days of the bolshevik movement. young stalin, coupled with his earlier stalin: the court of the red tsar, represent an important revision in our assessment of this towering figure of the 20th century.

salad days of a genocidal tyrant

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Offers a much deeper humanistic look into who Stalin was.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Stalin for his ability to change, agitate, manipulate and steal. He was a magician and brilliant actor and that isn't something that gets noticed, All is said is his atrocities and this book shows the talented human being behind the history.

What about James Adams’s performance did you like?

Solid, eloquent and engaging.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for one sitting and also too rich, I am going to listen to that last few chapters during the revolution as I had fallen off and want to reengage with it.

Carefully researched ground breaking biography

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If you want to know something about the Bolsheviks prior to taking power, read this book. It is also interesting to see how Stalin is not really a European and how far from an academic sphere Stalin actually was.

Great Book: How thug gangsters took over a nation

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Content:
If you’re interested in learning more about the formation of one of the world’s greatest Marxist leaders, this is the book.

Stalin loves himself. Stalin loves sex. Stalin loves power. Stalin loves quarrels. Stalin loves the utopia that Marx offered. He doesn’t love much else.

Other interesting hobbies: poetry, singing, hunting, fishing, drinking.

Highlights:
All the time in Georgia—so much history and culture.
Orthodox Seminary—sad state of church culture.
Conspiratsia—the intrigue of tsarist secret police.
Siberian exile—for all purposes, a joke of a sentence.

What would have happened if his father wasn’t an alcoholic and the hopeful, romantic side of his nature was encouraged in his youth instead of stifled? God only knows.

Audible features:
Excellent performance by James Adams.
Very hard to follow all of the secondary characters and the Georgian names get all muddled. But still worth the listen.



Excellent and Depressing

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This book was written after a significant amount of previously classified documents were released at the beginning of the 21 century. The writer gives plenty of informative detail of who's who w/o droning or boring. Narration was also excellent.

Great read with lots of new info

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This book is an absolute delight! Very informative, unbiased, a clear approach of how the muderer we call Stalin came to be, and how he matured into his image. It turns out, he's much more than a ruthless thug, rather an extremely intelligent fox-like persona, who Lenin himself at times yielded to.
2 thumbs up!

Young Stalin audio book part 1

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Now that the subject is so far past as Napoleon, the young Stalin emerges as an unexpetedly lively person, resembling the thug-rappers on recent American experience (tho he has a better voice), but our thugs are nowhere so bold as to rob our national banks. Everywhere Stalin goes, he gets laid, even in Siberia.


Stalin was a hottie

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Loved this audio book. How does a choir boy studying to be a priest become a revolutionary with complete disregard for human life? In other words how did Stalin become Stalin. Brilliant analysis beautifully read beautifully written.

Brilliant and Entertaining

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Following the adventures of young Stalin and his many personae is a great way to learn about pre-revolutionary Russia

Great narrator and globe trotting action

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