A compelling intellectual biography of Stalin told through his personal library “[A]
fascinating new study.”—Michael O’Donnell Wall Street Journal In this engaging life of
the twentieth century’s most self-consciously learned dictator Geoffrey Roberts explores the
books Stalin read how he read them and what they taught him. Stalin firmly believed in the
transformative potential of words and his voracious appetite for reading guided him throughout
his years. A biography as well as an intellectual portrait this book explores all aspects of
Stalin’s tumultuous life and politics. Stalin an avid reader from an early age amassed a
surprisingly diverse personal collection of thousands of books many of which he marked and
annotated revealing his intimate thoughts feelings and beliefs. Based on his wide-ranging
research in Russian archives Roberts tells the story of the creation fragmentation and
resurrection of Stalin’s personal library. As a true believer in communist ideology Stalin was
a fanatical idealist who hated his enemies—the bourgeoisie kulaks capitalists imperialists
reactionaries counter-revolutionaries traitors—but detested their ideas even more.
