Stalin

In this monumental book, Ronald Grigor Suny sheds light on the least understood years of Stalin's career, bringing to life the turbulent world in which he lived and the extraordinary historical events that shaped him. Suny draws on a wealth of new archival evidence from Stalin's early years in the Caucasus to chart the psychological metamorphosis of the young Stalin, taking readers from his boyhood as a Georgian nationalist and romantic poet, through his harsh years of schooling, to his commitment to violent engagement in the underground movement to topple the tsarist autocracy.

Stalin emerges as an ambitious climber within the Bolshevik ranks, a resourceful leader of a small terrorist band, and a writer and thinker who was deeply engaged with some of the most incendiary debates of his time. A landmark achievement, Stalin paints an unforgettable portrait of a driven young man who abandoned his religious faith to become a skilled political operative and a single-minded and ruthless rebel.

The book's strength lies...in its excavation of important episodes of the early years...What I took from Passage to Revolution - and I agree with the idea - is that young Stalin was an angry optimist...His hefty, demanding tome emphasises the effects of changing circumstances that pivoted both Stalin and Russia into a vortex of revolution and civil war. Robert Service, Washington Post

A comprehensive, deeply researched study of one of the world's most brutal dictators as he took the paths that would lead him to power. - Kirkus, starred review