{"product_id":"2026200010397-secondhand-stalin","title":"Stalin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew figures in modern history cast a shadow as long and as dark as Joseph Stalin — the peasant's son who seized control of the Soviet Union and reshaped the world through terror, ideology, and iron will. This volume from the acclaimed Great Lives Observed series brings together a curated selection of primary sources, contemporary accounts, and critical retrospectives to present a multidimensional portrait of the Soviet dictator, from his early revolutionary years to his paranoid consolidation of absolute power. The anthology chronicles Stalin's ruthless purges, the collectivisation campaigns that starved millions, and the cult of personality that transformed a Georgian revolutionary into a demigod of the Soviet state.\n\nEdited by T. H. Rigby, a foremost authority on Soviet politics, the collection illustrates the interpretive tensions that have long defined Stalinist historiography — between ideological apologist and moral condemner, between wartime strategist and mass murderer. Rigby's editorial framework provides a rigorous scaffolding for understanding how contemporaries experienced and recorded Stalinist rule, drawing on voices both inside and outside the Soviet apparatus. The result is an indispensable resource for any student of twentieth-century history, leaving the reader to grapple with a haunting question: how does a system produce — and sustain — a man like Stalin?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49130693558491,"sku":"2026200010397-SECONDHAND","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/96c50c87-ca68-441d-b382-6706ab4f8cf8.png?v=1786588616","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200010397-secondhand-stalin","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}