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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
I love Montefiore's writing style, and this book did not dissapoint there. It was fascinating, and I will definitely read Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar as a follow up.
Compared to the book on Caesar it falls short. Maybe I was hoping for too much information on helping me on mu road somehow, but too much love affairs etc. Well - it's a biography, not an inspirational story.
Holy hell what an awful human being. Without delving into psychoanalytical presumption, this is a fascinating portrait of the development of a monster.
This seems a very well-researched book. I learned much about this guy both as a person and as a political. I preferred the parts which focused more on the person rather than the politics but clearly, they can't be separated so overall a really interesting read. A really good history lesson as I feel I have a much better understanding now of the politics and the lead-up to Stalin's reign. I plan on moving on to [b:Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar|282108|Stalin The Court of the Red Tsar|Simon Sebag Montefiore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320529351s/282108.jpg|2910172].
Stalin knew that he was killing. This extremely thorough research from uncensored sources proves it. Good research, good pace. Well done
An interesting, well told, and thoroughly researched work on one of History's most dedicated obscurantists. It was almost as interesting to read the footnotes covering the lengths Stalin went to hide the stories within this book as it was to read the actual events, escapades and outrages themselves.
There is a game attempt to explain how he managed to become such a devastating figure for the countries of the USSR, how his past shaped him, and how the opportunities on offer were seized by a determined and ruthless individual. There were even a few moments which made me laugh, which seems unlikely to occur in such a story, but they never felt inappropriate.
It is a vivid, world-setting account of a series of times and places which were probably unknown even to the vast majority of the people Stalin would come to rule. Sebag Montefiore seems to have a particular talent for evoking the hustle and bustle of daily life in the places Stalin found himself either living or disrupting.
There is a game attempt to explain how he managed to become such a devastating figure for the countries of the USSR, how his past shaped him, and how the opportunities on offer were seized by a determined and ruthless individual. There were even a few moments which made me laugh, which seems unlikely to occur in such a story, but they never felt inappropriate.
It is a vivid, world-setting account of a series of times and places which were probably unknown even to the vast majority of the people Stalin would come to rule. Sebag Montefiore seems to have a particular talent for evoking the hustle and bustle of daily life in the places Stalin found himself either living or disrupting.
It may have taken me a long time to read (with a 4ish month break) but it was still amazing and a super interesting read.