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Stalin

Written by: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of the British Book Awards History Book of the Year.

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar. 

Based on groundbreaking research, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals in captivating detail the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous cruelty of this secret world. Written with extraordinary narrative verve, this magnificent feat of scholarly research has become a classic of modern history writing. Showing how Stalin's triumphs and crimes were the product of his fanatical Marxism and his gifted but flawed character, this is an intimate portrait of a man as complicated and human as he was brutal and chilling. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2003 Simon Sebag Montefiore (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about Stalin

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Chilling, informative, incredibly gripping

This book is incredibly well performed and even better written. Highly enjoyable. I chose to read this after Andrew Roberts’ Churchill as the Yalta conference was a fascinating piece of history. I got far more than I bargained for in this book. Do not hesitate to pick this one up.

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Immensely Enjoyable

To date, this my favorite biography of Stalin and his henchmen. Sebag Montefiore does a masterful job of weaving the various personalities and historical events together.

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Excellent

This book is unbelievable. I finished this quickly over about 5 days. If you're interested, I would highly recommend

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  • TrueEllipsis
  • 2022-06-22

Magnificent

This book is a heroic achievement. The author does an incredible job at stitching together all the evidence and archive documents and paints a very vivid picture of Stalin and his close circles.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2022-02-26

Riveting

Feels like an edge of your seat screenplay for an emmy award winning HBO series - and the narrator does an excellent job at conveying this. The visceral terror of life under Stalins rule is well captured.

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  • Brendon
  • 2021-06-05

LONG, BUT WORTH IT

This gang of thug rogues make Hitlers gang positively tame - literally tame. And Putin loves Stalin? Well, now you know what Putin is.

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  • David R. Butler
  • 2020-12-09

So Good!

I read this about 10 years ago and adored it. Was so pleased to see the unabridged audio version come out.

Both the author and the narrator bring the Stalin period to life. The approach to research and the narrative remind me of Doris Kearns Goodwin, but with all the zaniness of the Stalinist courtiers.

Remains a favourite and I know I will listen to this again down the road.

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