This reads like a book about Harry Potter becoming Voldemort only he fucks half of Hogwarts in the process

This reads like a book about Harry Potter becoming Voldemort only he fucks half of Hogwarts in the process.

Have you read Vol. 2 yet (or is it released yet already)? I put this on hold some time ago.

Is the book any good?, I've been thinking about picking it up.

Not yet (it is released)

It's engaging, it's well written. I'd say that the author isn't too much of an intellectual in a sense that the bias is showing bit too plainly (mostly through beeing a bit too judgmental when it comes to superior economic models and whatnot) but seeing how western historiography, especially british one, treats slavs as untermensch this sort of anecdotal writing doesn't reek of hate.

Stalin is extremely politicised. There are books about him that go from pure praise to pure demonisation, depending on political agenda.

As Zhou Enlai (misattributed) said about French Revolution, "it's too early to tell"

and yes I know Stalin wasn't a Slav, talking about the tone that usually gets taken when talking about the region in general. Kotkin prefers to treat history as a series of lucky events a person can somewhat turn into his favor which works well when the narrative is concerned.

I'd say that at least Stalin's rule is pretty well documented so the only hard bit would be to take a peek into his private life. First book is fascinating because you see how interesting the man actually was.

>There are books about him that go from pure praise to pure demonisation
Man, this isn't the Cold War anymore. A lot of new archives have been opened up during the 90s and 00s, so there are less loopholes anymore for subjective biases, aside from some shitty sensationalist books, which the above book isn't. The book's approach was more about how the surrounding socio-political context shaped the man.

>Harry Potter references

kys

Totally recommended. I find it much more mature and trustful than Montifiore's book although this one concentrate on early Stalin until he grabbed power in mid 1920s

>someone was enough of a butthurt faggot to make that image

>As Zhou Enlai (misattributed) said about French Revolution, "it's too early to tell"
The 1968 French Revolution, not the 1789 French Revolution.

>Man, this isn't the Cold War anymore

Stalin is an exception to that rule.

>fucks half of Hogwarts in the process.

>fucks then kills then fucks half of Hogwarts in the process

Was Lysenko the Professor of Herbology?

How much did he contribute to the Holodomor?

He was trying to help, if the Kulaks had just frozen their seeds it could have all been avoided

clever

/ourguy/

>Comrade Stalin, I'm NKVD

Which is why I mentioned it is misattributed