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Montefiore's "Young Stalin" which covers his life from birth to the revolution is a wild book. I like Montefiore because he has a real respect for the maniac g

Montefiore's "Young Stalin" which covers his life from birth to the revolution is a wild book. I like Montefiore because he has a real respect for the maniac genius and energy of the guy. What kind of person does it take to overthrow a whole society? "Court of the Red Tzar" is less fun and more of a portrait of him using his enormous capacity to work and execute to relentlessly grind out his plans to take over the world in the name of Marxism/Leninism and absolutely steamrolling over anyone or anything in the most brutal way possible that got in his way. One of the things that people miss about Stalin is that more than any leader in the past centuries, he wasn't a puppet for a shadowy cabal, or a front man for someone else, he was fully totally in charge and running the whole thing totally outmaneuvering Trotsky and anyone else who would attempt to grab power away from him. He could do this because he had a legendary memory for people and their personalities. He was able to take over the government by remembering thousands of people who he considered loyal to him and placing them in key posts throughout the government after he was appointed party secretary. There have been very few leaders with that sort of raw cognitive capability.

akomtu 4y ago
Stalin's cognitive ability was dismal. His strength was his ability to connect with the infernal side of human nature. This made him an adept manipulator, this gave him the unusual energy spikes after such "connections" and this gave him a depressing aura that bent people's will. The price for such abilities is being a "puppet of the shadowy cabal", using your metaphor.
- narrator 4y ago
  Who controlled him? Absolutely nobody. He had anyone who attempted to executed. He was a maniac for sure, and a total jerk, but a brilliant one. In "Court of the Red Tzar" after he achieves all his narcissistic glory by winning world war II he starts torturing his inner circle making them drink to the point of passing out on a regular basis trying to find any flaws in their loyalty. The real hero of that book is Anastas Mikoyan. The guy survives Lenin, Stalin and even Khrushchev and Brezhnev kept him around. He keeps his dignity, plays a key role in defeating fascism and his brother ran a damned good aircraft design bureau the whole way through.

akomtu 4y ago

Stalin's cognitive ability was dismal. His strength was his ability to connect with the infernal side of human nature. This made him an adept manipulator, this gave him the unusual energy spikes after such "connections" and this gave him a depressing aura that bent people's will. The price for such abilities is being a "puppet of the shadowy cabal", using your metaphor.

narrator 4y ago
Who controlled him? Absolutely nobody. He had anyone who attempted to executed. He was a maniac for sure, and a total jerk, but a brilliant one. In "Court of the Red Tzar" after he achieves all his narcissistic glory by winning world war II he starts torturing his inner circle making them drink to the point of passing out on a regular basis trying to find any flaws in their loyalty. The real hero of that book is Anastas Mikoyan. The guy survives Lenin, Stalin and even Khrushchev and Brezhnev kept him around. He keeps his dignity, plays a key role in defeating fascism and his brother ran a damned good aircraft design bureau the whole way through.