Teach Yourself: Stalin's Russia

The Teach Yourself History series offers a refreshing alternative to dense academic historical books, its content being extensive yet written in an accessible and engaging style. All titles in this series are informative and compelling. Assuming no prior historical knowledge and full of anecdotes and fascinating details, these books will keep the reader hooked from beginning to end.

'Teach Yourself: Stalin's Russia' considers the conditions into which the infamous dictator was born and grew up; the state of the Russian people, the shadows of Tsarism, the revolutionary tradition and the legacy of Lenin. With a clear understanding of this background, the reader is able to comprehend Stalin's rise to supremacy - the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky and the many factors that enabled Stalin to become the sole command. The horrific effects of Stalin's five year plans that demanded collectivization and de-Kulakization are objectively considered and brought to life by anecdotes and personal details. So too are the instruments of terror and tyranny, the political purges and Stalin's foreign policy, which forced Russia into the largest and most costly war in history. The aftermath of the Second World War is addressed in light of the ensuing Cold War, how the Soviet Union became a nuclear power and the intensification of tensions between the East and West. Such an extensive, shocking and dramatic history is told with engaging objectivity that will arouse the reader's interest and compassion.