The author claims that any biography of Stalin should be intricately linked to the history of the world and cannot be detached from the enormous political and cultural shifts at the beginning of the 20th century. In other words, if the people want to understand Stalin's personality, they have to be prepared to digest a lot of dry matter that has little direct dramatic impact. It's hard to argue against this, especially in retrospective. Imagine writing about Hitler without mentioning nazism. The problem is that the author uses this statement to produce a narrative that becomes less and less balanced as the book progresses.

The first third really feels like a biography, with the necessary historical backgrounds. Unfortunately, during the second third Stalin's persona is completely sidelined and the book turns into a history of the early Soviet Union and the bureaucratic tone is occasionally peppered with a refreshing gossip and intrigue that never reaches a narrative climax. Stalin returns during the last third but almost exclusively as a bureaucrat and not as a human being. This is perhaps necessary, since he seems to have devoted almost every aspect of his life to politics but in a biography, this comes with a price.

However, this doesn't mean the book is flawed. The sheer amount of data it contains can be extremely helpful to people who are specializing on the subject. The author's sense of humor also adds a plus here and there, offering a refreshment in a desert of quotes from speeches and official documents. The ordinary readers who simply want to read a story of Stalin's life may end up disappointed but I would still recommend this book to anyone interested. After all, dry historical facts also have a value and not everything can be dramatically regurgitated to appease the general public. The only true obstacle is the length of the book. Reading and understanding it can be very time-consuming.