Stalin: History in an Hour: How a Destructive Tyrant Seized Power in the Soviet Union

History In An Hour

by Rupert Colley

Arguably no person in history had such a direct and negative impact on the lives of so many as Joseph Stalin. Under the Red Tsar terror knew no limits, it did not discriminate; no one was safe, no institution, no single town or village was immune. Yet, following his death in 1953, Stalin was deeply mourned. He had ‘received the country with a wooden plough, and left it with a nuclear missile shield’. And no-one else, some claimed, could have led the Soviet Union to victory in the Second World War.

So who was Joseph Stalin, what was his role during the Russian Revolution; how did he come to power, what made him such a destructive tyrant, and how did he impose his will on the Soviet Union for so long?

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Historical

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Founder, writer and Series Editor of History In An Hour (http://historyinanhour.com), owned by HarperCollins UK, and now author of two novels.

The first, "My Brother the Enemy", a novella, is set during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

The second, "This Time Tomorrow", set during and following World War One, is a compelling story of war, brotherly love, passion and betrayal.

My third novel, "The Black Maria", is set in Moscow in 1935, the height of Stalin's reign, about love crushed by the machine.

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In the Soviet Union, it takes more courage to retreat than advance."
― Joseph Stalin

This is a short but informative book on the life of Joseph Stalin. The only negative of this book is that we feel like it ended abruptly. But as the name suggests, the author also meant this book to be a concise biography of Stalin's life. If you want an elaborate one, you can opt for Stalin's biographies written by Stephen Kotkin or Robert Service.

[Omar Kassem · Rating 3 out of 5]

سيرة موجزة وبسيطة لحياة ستالين ، القائد الثاني للإتحاد السوفييتي ، الذي حكم من منتصف العشرينيات وحتى وفاته في عام 1953
يسرد الكتاب هذه السيرة مع التركيز على إيضاح حجم و أهوال الرعب التي أحدثها أثناء حكمه ، وهو امر طبيعي من شخص مصاب بجنون العظمة والشر..
صحيح أنه مجرم حرب لكن حتى عند تفكك الاتحاد السوفييتي ظل العديد يعتبرونه القائد الخارق لدرجة وصلت حد العبادة والتي انتشرت بخاصة داخل الحركة الماركسية اللينينية ، وظل يحتفظ بشعبيته كقائد منتصر من زمن الحرب ، فهو من أسس الإتحاد السوفييتي وجعله قوة عالمية بالرغم من عمليات الترحيل والقتل التي طالت الملايين..

[Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple overview
Touches on historical highlights and personality

[Francisco Moreno · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mitad de camino entre un artículo de la wikipedia y un tocho de 600 páginas, el libro cumple lo que promete: una visión de conjunto breve sobre la figura de Stalin.

[Puck Zara Smink · Rating 5 out of 5]

goede manier om last minute voor tentamen te leren 10/10

[Lukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolejną pozycją z serii „History in an hour” po którą siegnąłem to biografia Stalina. Część informacji o jego życiu była już mi znana. Nuestety ten jeden człowiek wyrządził sporo krzywdy no i odpowiedzialny jest za śrmieć milionów ludzi. Z drugiej strony jest on produktem systemu który został stworzony przez innych ludzi, w tym samemgo Lenina. Biografia Stalina jest pewnego rodzaju przestrogą przed tworzeniem systemów które opartę są na slinej jednostce przywódcy.
W niniejszej biografi jest też trochę informacji na temat rodziny Stalina. W końcu przecież Stalin miał własną rodzinę, żonę, syna, córkę. Prowadził też życie rodzinne.
W biografii znajdziemy szczegóły relacji najbliższych współpracowników ze Stalinem. Część współpracowników była mu oddana, część skrycie go nienawidziła i w momencie śmierci pluła na jego zwłoki. Ciekawym szczegółem jest fakt iż po śmierci Stalina jego zwłoki wystawiono w mauzoleum na placu czerwonym tuż obok zwłok samego Lenina.Proces rozliczania się jednak ze stalinizmem sprawił iż kilka lat później usunięto zwłoki Stalina z mauzoleum.
Ten kolejny tom „Hisotrz in a hour” potwierdza jak dobra jest ta seria. Bez większej inwestycji czasowej można przybliżyć sobie wiedzę historyczną na dany temat. Będę kontynuował poznawianie historii i sięgnę po kolejne tomy z tej serii.

[Roman Zadorozhnii · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Советский писатель и диссидент Александр Солженицын приводит случай, произошедший в 1937 г. После одиннадцати минут изнурительных аплодисментов один директор завода остановился первым и получил 10 лет лагерей. В конце концов Сталин разрешил использовать колокольчик в знак того, что можно прекращать хлопать. Если Сталин в своем публичном выступлении неправильно произносил какое-либо слово (в конце концов, русский не был его родным языком), те, кто выступал после него, если им встречалось это слово, старательно произносили его неправильно, как и Сталин”

[Nelly G]

The book tells us about events that took place nearly or I should say only 80-90 years ago. It sounds so familiar in 2022. Terrible dude. I have no idea how someone can consider him a great leader. They say people cried and were devastated when he died. I doubt those were tears of sorrow... anyway the audio book is only 1,5 hour and helped to fill the gap in my knowledge of history

[Roger Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Summary of Stalin

It's pretty much a Cliff Notes version of the life of Stalin. It's good for giving you an idea of who he was and the major events in his life. It's obviously not an in depth study but gives a good general overview of Stalin.

[Joseph Ramsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little series. The books give you a nice overview of the topic. This one on Stalin is no different.

[Tole · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting enough but quite short as the title suggests.

[Chu-Salyer Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't know much about Stalin, but this book makes me want to read up on the man and fined out more on him.

[Zais · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too broad of a subject for that short book.

[Krishnanjali Jha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard audio. A little broken. More like a literal biography with exact chronology.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does exactly what it says on the tin! Well researched, presented, and narrated, plus it has made me want to read more about Stalin, and read more in this History in an Hour series.

[Arevik Heboyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great brief introduction to the life, persona, and era of one of the cruelest and out-of-control rulers of the 20th century.

[Luis Brudna · Rating 5 out of 5]

É claro que um livro de 'Uma hora' não contempla todos os detalhes da vida de Stálin. Mesmo assim vale a pela ler como uma introdução.

[Guillermo Grinberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too short, half the book is a time line.....boring

[Afag Alizada · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: Прочитала на русском

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you'd expect from something called "History in an Hour" the book moves briskly, skimming across the top of a broad lake of facts. A single reading or listening (for the audiobook) will only give a vague impression, while subsequent visits to the text allows for greater elucidation. One of my chief grumbles, however, is the single bias in the portrayal of Stalin. While I do not believe that Stalin was someone to be necessarily admired or held in high regard -- and he did many things that were unquestionably cruel and brutal -- the text is so clearly biased in its uniformly "evil man" image of him that it becomes a little hard to take at its word, even though it is true. My own knowledge of Stalin's history is not as well-informed as I wish it were, which is why I was drawn to a speedy but detailed overview. This book is that to be certain; however, my interest is invited to more in-depth biographies simply because this goes a little too much like a bullet-point list of the vicious and self-interested acts of a simply paranoid and evil man. There must be more to the story, or at least a more removed, journalistic approach to the presentation of these events. However, the history does in many ways speak for itself, and the book is still a useful look, balancing a wealth of information within its objective of brevity quite well. And the horrors of Stalin's former rule are undeniable, so my comments on the apparent bias of the book should not be taken as censure. If anything, the book gave me a much greater idea of the depth and reach of the terrors Stalin inflicted.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another enjoyable introduction to a topic from the history in an hour series. With so many works published about Stalin this makes for a good starting point. Some have described this as merely a chronology but I would argue that it provides a sufficiently detailed narrative of the life of Stalin and his regime. Overall I enjoyed this book having limited previous knowledge of life of Stalin post Lenin's death.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

stalin worked his way into a couple of the other history in an hour books i read. so, i feel like i got more out of this because i came into it with a little bit of knowledge.

anyway, not a cool dude. died because because were too scared of helping him wrong.

[Judith Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and concise. I wish it had gone into more detail about the cult of personality surrounding Stalin though, there was little mention about this in the book and that had been what I was interested in reading about.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book was wonderful. I knew a bit about Stalin, now I'm quite interested in learning so much more. That's the beauty of this series, it awakens your interest and forces you to go out and learn a bit more

Highly recommend!

[Michael Legge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shame he dies in the...actually, no it isn't.

[Oana Bradulet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for a quick history read - short and concise yet immensely insightful.

[Barry Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It tells the potted history of Stalin and you can read it in about an hour.

[Justin Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent if brief summary and overview of the man who took Russia from the plough to the modern industrial age whilst ruling as a dictator through a reign of incredible fear, purges, gulags and terror. A reign of terror that has no other equal in the 20th century with the exception of Hitler.