|a xxxii, 460 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : |b illustrations, maps |c 25 cm |a Young Stalin / |c Simon Sebag Montefiore.

|a DLC |b eng |c DLC |d BTCTA |d YDXCP |d BAKER |d C#P |d JED |d YBM |d BUR |d UPZ |d TBS |d IOE |d XXH |d SMP |d CQU |d NIALS |d TEX |d MIX |d DKDLA |d MUO |d OCLCF |d OCL |d OCLCO |d OCLCQ |d J9U |d NMC |d XBE |d GILDS |d OCLCQ |d OCLCO |d OCLCQ |d RCC |d BRL |d TYC |d OCLCA |d SNN |d OCLCQ |d OCLCO |d MTC |d OCLCQ |d OCLCO |d OCL |d VYM |d OCLCO |d OCLCQ |d OCL |d OCLCA |d OCLCQ |d OCLCO |d JCH |d IL4J6 |d WIQ |d OCLCO The paranoid criminal underworld was Stalin's natural habitat, and murderous banditry and political gangsterism, combined with pitiless ideology, enabled Stalin to dominate the Kremlin-and create the USSR in his flawed image.-From publisher description. A mastermind of bank robbery, protection rackets, arson, piracy and murder, he was equal parts terrorist, intellectual and brigand. Admired as a romantic poet and trained as a priest, he found his true mission as a fanatical revolutionary. The shadowy journey from obscurity to power of the Georgian cobbler's son who became the Red Tsar-the man who, along with Hitler, remains the modern personification of evil: a merciless psychopath who was, as well, a consummate politician, the dynamic world statesman who helped create and industrialize the USSR, outplayed Churchill and Roosevelt, and defeated Hitler? Historian Montefiore tells the story of a charismatic, turbulent boy born into poverty, of doubtful parentage, scarred by his upbringing but possessed of unusual talents.

Young stalin simon sebag montefiore