Stalin
Breaker of Nations

Of all the despots of our time, Joseph Stalin lasted the longest and wielded the greatest power, and his secrets have been the most jealously guardedeven after his death. In this book, the first to draw from recently released archives, Robert Conquest gives us Stalin as a child and student; as a revolutionary and communist theoretician; as a political animal skilled in amassing power and absolutely ruthless in maintaining it. He presents the landmarks of Stalins rule: the clash with Lenin; collectivization; the Great Terror; the NaziSoviet pact and the NaziSoviet war; the antiSemitic campaign that preceded his death; and the legacy he left behind. Distilling a lifetimes study, weaving detail, analysis, and research, Conquest has given us an extraordinarily powerful narrative of this incredible figure.