Stalin: The Murderous Career of the Red Tsar

by Nigel Cawthorne

This is popular history about one of the most feared men in history, a man who is still venerated in much of his homeland and who played such a large part in shaping the political landscape of the modern world. Up to sixty million people perished under Stalin's murderous rule and his life and crimes will fascinate the general reader.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Russia, Politics

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating, disturbing, enlightening, but disappointing. The story was far too important and complex to allow distractions of issues in editing and writing style. I find history challenging enough to follow without the complication of the author continuously bouncing back and forth in time periods. I persevered and got through it due to my personal interest but without that level of commitment likely would have abandoned it. Nonetheless, parts were very well written and provocative and I learned a good deal so still time well spent. However, my search for a better account of this remarkably dark period in our history continues. I would give it 2 and a half stars if that were available.

[Necromancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wise man with so many things going on in his life, i personally adore the man, although he did make many mistakes in his time of ruling the union, but he was loved and cherished. The author managed to fit his complicated and dreadful life into 381 pages. There were many jumps between stories and short biographies of different meaningful to Stalin, people. Overall, a good biography if you want to get a piece of Stalin's life.

[Roisín · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. And what made me really enjoy it was because it was right to the point and also had little seperate sections to explain who was who and about the organisations within the Soviet Union very interesting read.

[Nico Nico Ni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written.

[CHAD FOSTER · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are unfamiliar with Stalin’s reign of terror over the people of both the Soviet Union and its satellite territories, this book is a good place to start. However, I hesitate to give it too high of a rating because of the lack of footnotes/endnotes. I already had a sold base of knowledge on Stalin and the early Soviet period, and the broad strokes that this book paints are accurate - but a serious work of history should include citations. For that reason, I’d recommend this only as a jumping off point in one’s study of Stalin. There are other more detailed works (with citations) available.

[Hayley Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. The perfect starting point for anyone wishing to have a concise version of Stalin's life. Helpful inserts on people and subjects pertaining to his life really help you understand who everyone was. For me Stalin has never been a purely good or bad person, I personally love him but loathe some of the things he did. You can say a lot of things about him but you can't deny that the man was a fascinating person

[Abdul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life and death is like a flip of the coin.

[Mike Gallant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the situation during the times of the Revolution and proceeding changes. Light read with appendices for important persons, groups, and laws.

[Shaharuddin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku pasal orang jahat yang mengubah dunia. Mengubah dunia menjadi lebih teruk.

[Tjb189215 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a summary of Russian Soviet History with a heavy emphasis on Stalin and his cronies. It goes deep into Stalin's life long after his reign. Pretty tough book.

[Eric Stutzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book back when I was in middle school for a history paper, and after grabbing the tidbits of information I needed, it sat on my shelf for about five years. It was only until this past month that I decided to give the book another go, cover to cover, and I was pleasantly surprised. This book passed the one test I have regarding history books, meaning it wasn't dry and I didn't want to shoot myself while reading it. It was thoroughly informative, and it gives good insights into the Red Tsar. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wishes to learn more about history's most tyrannical despot.

[Jesus Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

no es solo que aprendí muchas palabras en ruso: pravda = verdad, bolshevik = mayoría, menshevik = minoría, besoshvili = hijo de Beso, yehov = cerdo y así, sino que a este ser se le atribuyen mas muertes a Hitler y en efecto fue mas nefasto que este régimen, si había un orden político él lo puso y lo que resultó en la 2a guerra mundial el lo permitió. Los campos de concentración, su invención, la tortura y confesión su perfeccionamiento, traición y engaño su nota. Que asco de wey y hay millones que lo extrañan, porque? Entérese de todo esto y más en este libro, saludos!

[Shamel Hosni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written. Abandoned reading third of the way through. Will pursue watching the movie version instead.

[Donnacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

If your interested in Stalin this book is a good way to start. It's very concise and very interesting.