{"product_id":"2026200016481-secondhand-stalin-vol-i-paradoxes-of-power-1878-1928","title":"Stalin: Vol. I: Paradoxes Of Power, 1878-1928","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Advanced Reading Copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore he became the most feared ruler of the twentieth century, Joseph Stalin was simply Soso — a cobbler's son from the Georgian backwater of Gori, a seminary dropout turned revolutionary agitator, a man whose outsized ambitions were matched only by his extraordinary ruthlessness. Stalin: Vol. I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 chronicles the first half of Stalin's life with breathtaking scope and granular detail, tracing his rise from provincial obscurity through the chaos of the Russian Revolution, the brutal civil war, and Lenin's death, right up to the moment he consolidated his grip on the Soviet state.\n\nStephen Kotkin, one of the foremost authorities on Soviet history, argues masterfully that Stalin's ascent was neither inevitable nor accidental — it was the product of a singular personality operating within a system uniquely suited to reward paranoia, cunning, and ideological conviction. Kotkin illuminates the collision of world-historical forces — tsarist collapse, Marxist-Leninist ideology, and geopolitical upheaval — against which Stalin forged himself into a figure of almost mythological power. Written with the narrative drive of a thriller and the rigour of first-rate scholarship, this magisterial biography raises the most unsettling question of all: how does a single man bend the arc of history to his will?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49336818335963,"sku":"2026200016481-SECONDHAND","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/70a9e506-d943-41c6-abaa-04ea1dbde4ee.png?v=1789958803","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200016481-secondhand-stalin-vol-i-paradoxes-of-power-1878-1928","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}