Robert Service talked about his book [Stalin: A Biography], published by Belknap Press. The book described the life and times of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, detailing his childhood ...

It is also a tale so extraordinary, so singular that it is difficult to make sense of it, even after reading all 623 pages of Rosemary Sullivan's excellent new biography, Stalin's Daughter.

This will not be Kotkin's only swipe at conventional wisdom in his big new biography, "Stalin, Volume 1: The Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928" (Penguin, 976 pp., $40). The early going is familiar.

Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin has spent decades researching and teaching about Soviet and Russian history, with a particular focus on Josef Stalin. He is distilling those efforts — and large ...

Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin, Penguin, 949 pages, $25 The first volume of Kotkin’s biography of Josef Stalin looks at the Soviet leader’s early and ...

The best biography yet of Joseph Stalin traces his life from abused child to murderous dictator -- and forces us to ask whether he could have taken a different path.

Stalin: The Court of the Red TsarBy Simon Sebag MontefioreKnopf, 785 pages, $30Shostakovich and StalinBy Solomon Volkov, translated from Russian by Antonina W. BouisKnopf, 313 pages, $30It has ...

As there is little to record about Stalin that is not political, this brilliant and fascinating volume is in effect a full-fledged "life and times." The author has devoted many years to studying the ...

Yes, Stalin’s birthday was altered from Dec. 6, 1878, to Dec. 22, 1879, but this happened only because he encouraged an assistant to cover up the facts of his youth.