A Portrait of Stalin in All His Murderous Contradictions
Mark Lawrence | Oct 20, 2017
Arguing that Kotkin “demolishes” simplicity, Prof. Lawrence finds that “Kotkin paints a richly variegated portrait, delving into Stalin’s peculiar personality even while situating him within the trajectories of Soviet history and totalitarianism more generally.”
In his review, Prof. Lawrence looks at the details in Kotkin’s characterization of Stalin. Overall, he writes that the biography “will surely stand for years to come as a seminal account of some of the most devastating events of the 20th century.”
Read the full review here.