Grand unified books thread

[Grey Fox]

They deserve it.

It should ship today, the warehouse is almost 600km away tho.

[Sheilbh]

Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar. Fascinating book.

May go for Young Stalin, by the same author, or Taubman's Khruschev next.

[jimmy olsen]

I've been thinking of reading that one day, I assume one should read Young Stalin if chronology is a concern.

[Razgovory]

Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar. Fascinating book.

May go for Young Stalin, by the same author, or Taubman's Khruschev next.

I've read mixed reviews on that.  One that it's interesting and gives a good idea what kind of man Stalin was, and others that say it focuses too much on gossip and not real history.  I've been on the fence on that one.   

[Ed Anger]

live free or die free baen book.

Libertarian saves America despite itself from commie aliens. Darkies die in droves. Thanks John Ringo.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar. Fascinating book.

May go for Young Stalin, by the same author, or Taubman's Khruschev next.

I've read mixed reviews on that.  One that it's interesting and gives a good idea what kind of man Stalin was, and others that say it focuses too much on gossip and not real history.  I've been on the fence on that one.   

That in the same vein of Young Robin Hood or Young INdiana Jones?

[Sheilbh]

I've read mixed reviews on that.  One that it's interesting and gives a good idea what kind of man Stalin was, and others that say it focuses too much on gossip and not real history.  I've been on the fence on that one.

I don't like that dichotomy.

Court of the Red Tsar is an attempt at giving a biography of Stalin and the other leading Bolsheviks from, roughly, 1930 until the end of his life. It doesn't seem gossipy, I've only got the paperback version but there's a huge number of thanks for interviews with children of the Politburo and others, so it seems to be based on lots of original research.

But his goal isn't to tell you a great deal about the Ukrainian famine, or any of the other policies. Rather he's interested in how Stalin and those around him manage it. How they receive the information, or build the conspiracies, or denounce themselves or one another and then how they reach decisions that lead to the implementation of those policies.

With that you have the life of the magnates which moves from being pretty spartan but collegiate to being rather grim and terrifying. They'd get the call out to Stalin's dacha where he'd make them drink and play jokes on each other, or slow dance with one another, while he was actually drinking disguised water, weak tea or watered down wine.

I think it's no good if you want a history of the Stalinist period but is perhaps better if you want a sense of the mentality of the era. If you want to know about the Ukrainian famine or the purges then it'd be better getting a book about them, rather than this.

I've been thinking of reading that one day, I assume one should read Young Stalin if chronology is a concern.

Well I've just read Court of the Red Tsar which is 1930-53. Young Stalin's 1878-1917. But chronology's not a concern.

[ulmont]

Well I've just read Court of the Red Tsar which is 1930-53. Young Stalin's 1878-1917. But chronology's not a concern.

I read Court first, then Young Stalin.  I found them both interesting.

[jimmy olsen]

What do you do if you interested in Stalin 1918-1929?

Anyways, I found A Memory of Light at the San Fran Airport! So happy!

[Sheilbh]

What do you do if you interested in Stalin 1918-1929?

Read a biography, there's hundreds out there

[Grey Fox]

What do you do if you interested in Stalin 1918-1929?

Anyways, I found A Memory of Light at the San Fran Airport! So happy!

Congrats.

It was delivered today, Hardcovers are big, that's going to be hard to sneak into the bathroom.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Wish the Kindle edition was out. I'd have preferred it to a hard copy.

[mongers]

I 'read' two books yesterday, well more like picture books ( ), by photographer Don McCullin and Robert Doisneau, still rather interesting and inspirational.

[Grey Fox]

Wish the Kindle edition was out. I'd have preferred it to a hard copy.

I would have preferred the mass market paperback but I agree anything over this giant hard cover things.

[Gups]

I liked the Court of the Red Tsar. It was an interesting study of pure power in private setting and the way people react to that power.

However, it is fair to question the quality of the "history" behind it. Most of teh sources are third hand (children of former leaders) and its anecdotal. But there's no other way to do such a study and you have to take it for what it is.