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Stalin

Stalin

Stalin

A New History
Sarah Davies, University of Durham
James Harris, University of Leeds
October 2005
Available
Hardback
9780521851046

    The figure of Joseph Stalin has always provoked heated and often polarized debate. The recent declassification of a substantial portion of Stalin's archive has made possible this fundamental new assessment of the Soviet leader. In this groundbreaking 2005 study, leading international experts challenge many assumptions about Stalin from his early life in Georgia to the Cold War years with contributions ranging across the political, economic, social, cultural, ideological and international history of the Stalin era. The volume provides a deeper understanding of the nature of Stalin's power and of the role of ideas in his politics, presenting a more complex and nuanced image of one of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. This study is without precedent in the field of Russian history and will prove invaluable reading for students of Stalin and Stalinism.

    • A revisionist history of Stalin and Stalinism based on recently declassified archive material, including Stalin's personal archive
    • Features contributions by an international team of leading Russian historians
    • Essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students studying Stalin and his regime

    Reviews & endorsements

    "Editors Sarah Davies and James Harris have done students of twentieth-century Russian history a real service by compiling these essays."
    -Robert Himmer, The Russian Review

    "With this outstanding collection, Davies and Harris not only present a more compelling and comprehensive individual but greatly advance our understanding the Soviet state under Stalin."
    Golfo Alexopoulos, American Historical Review

    "the book will be of interest and value for students of Russian history." -The NYMAS Review

    See more reviews

    Product details

    October 2005
    Hardback
    9780521851046
    310 pages
    229 × 152 × 19 mm
    0.59kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Joseph Stalin: power and ideas Sarah Davies and James Harris
    • 2. Stalin as Georgian: the formative years Alfred Rieber
    • 3. Stalin as commissar for nationalities affairs, 1918–22 Jeremy Smith
    • 4. Stalin as General Secretary: the appointments process and the nature of Stalin's power James Harris
    • 5. Stalin as 'Prime Minister': power and the Politburo J. Arch Getty
    • 6. Stalin as dictator: the personalisation of power Oleg Khlevniuk
    • 7. Stalin as economic policy-maker: Soviet agriculture, 1931–6 R. W. Davies
    • 8. Stalin as foreign policy-maker: avoiding war, 1927–53 Alfred Rieber
    • 9. Stalin as Marxist: the western roots of Stalin's Russification of Marxism Erik van Ree
    • 10. Stalin as Bolshevik Romantic: ideology and mobilisation, 1917–39 David Priestland
    • 11. Stalin as patron of cinema: creating Soviet mass culture, 1932–6 Sarah Davies
    • 12. Stalin as producer: the Moscow show trials and the construction of mortal threats William Chase
    • 13. Stalin as symbol: a case study of the personality cult and its construction David Brandenberger
    • 14. Stalin as the Coryphaeus of science: ideology and knowledge in the postwar years Ethan Pollock.
      Contributors
    • Sarah Davies, James Harris, Alfred Rieber, Jeremy Smith. J. Arch Getty, Oleg Khlevniuk, R. W. Davies, Erik van Ree, David Priestland, William Chase, David Brandenberger, Ethan Pollock

    • Editors
    • Sarah Davies , University of Durham

      Sarah Davies is LECTURER in HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM. She is THE AUTHOR OF POPULAR OPINION IN STALIN'S RUSSIA: TERROR, PROPAGANDA AND DISSENT 1934–1941 (1997).

    • James Harris , University of Leeds

      James Harris is LECTURER in HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF Leeds. He is the author of The Great Urals: Regionalism and the Evolution of the Soviet System (1999).