Episode #74 – What Can We Believe About Stalin? (Part II)

Stalin’s biography may be one of the most contested in modern times. As early as the 1930’s his life story was being written by friends and foes alike. The competing versions of Stalin’s past has made finding the truth particularly difficult. How important was Stalin in the early days of the Bolshevik Party? Was he a shadowy political nobody or one of the impetuous leaders of the revolution? Tune in and find out how clever pigs, Big Brother, and Michael Corleone all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Brackman, Roman. The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: a Hidden Life. Frank Cass, 2001.

CONQUEST, ROBERT. GREAT TERROR: a Reassessment. THE BODLEY HEAD LTD, 2018.

Conquest, Robert. The Great Terror, Stalin’s Purge of the Thirties: Robert Conquest. Macmillan and C°, 1968.

Khlevniuk, Oleg V., and Nora Seligman. Favorov. Stalin – New Biography of a Dictator. Yale University Press, 2016.

Kotkin, Stephen. Stalin. Penguin Books, 2015.

Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014.

Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Young Stalin. McArthur & Co., 2008.

Radzinsky, Edvard. Stalin: the First in-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia’secret Archives. Doubleday, 1996.

Rappaport, Helen. Joseph Stalin: a Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO, 2000.

Waterlow, Jonathan. It’s Only a Joke, Comrade!: Humour, Trust and Everyday Life under Stalin. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.