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Young Stalin

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Young Stalin

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

 Winner of the Costa Biography Award

What makes a Stalin? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin's bandit? Was he to blame for his wife's death? When did the killing start?

Based on revelatory research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic cobbler's son became a student priest, romantic poet, prolific lover, gangster mastermind and murderous revolutionary. Culminating in the 1917 revolution, Simon Sebag Montefiore's bestselling biography radically alters our understanding of the gifted politician and fanatical Marxist who shaped the Soviet empire in his own brutal image. This is the story of how Stalin became Stalin.

Read by Sean Barrett

(p) 2007 Orion Publishing Group©2007 Simon Sebag Montefiore Historical Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Russia Russian & Soviet World Stalin Soviet Union Imperialism

Critic reviews

Montefiore brings Stalin to life (Vince Cable)
Simon Sebag Montefiore's thrilling portrait of Stalin's youth ... A remarkable book ... Montefiore gives a brilliant account of the 1907 Tiflis heist ... the resulting scenes of mayhem were worthy of the De Niro and Pacino film HEAT (Michael Burleigh)
Should the life of a black-hearted ogre, a mass murderer ... be quite so entertaining? The story Montefiore has told requires the psychological penetration and social omniscience of a great novelist. Dickens once or twice peeps over the biographer's shoulder ... A racy, vivid biopic (Peter Conrad)
This picture of Stalin as a poet is one of the revelations of Simon Sebag Montefiore's macabrely fascinating YOUNG STALIN ... Stalin's life [is] worthy of Dumas ... Brilliantly drawn (Antonia Fraser)
Magnificent ... YOUNG STALIN is a masterpiece of detail. Sebag Montefiore has unearthed documents long lost in Georgian archives, found the descendants of Soso's friends and produced a vivid psychological portrait of this dangerous, alluring, enigmatic man ... This book moves with pace and authority (Michael Binyon)
A gripping read... Simon Sebag Montefiore's research ... is brilliant. The book provides a wealth of serious and scurrilous detail, creating a memorable portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest monsters (Antony Beevor)
An outstanding book, full of surprises. A rich and complex figure emerges from the new material Sebag Montefiore has unearthed in archives ... This book is a triumph of research and storytelling (Victor Sebestyen)
On practically every page of YOUNG STALIN, there is a reason to smile with satisfaction at the thrust of revelation, and often a reason to gasp or even to chuckle. As quasi-academic populist biography goes ... this is as good as it gets (Christopher Silvester)
Montefiore gives us a richly and fluently documented study of the chief terrorist in the making. His chapters have an anecdotal exuberance and factual novelty. It is an impressive work of examination (Robert Service)
Familiar material is transformed with fresh depth and detail. While magnificently entertaining, it reveals the complexity of historical conditions that forge revolutions and their leaders (Carol Rumens)
Outstanding ... It is hard to imagine how this account can be improved on. The narrative flows with insight and humour: YOUNG STALIN is a prequel that outshines even THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR (Donald Rayfield)
An enthralling but appalling account ... The author writes with panache, style and acerbic wit ... Paints a portrait of Stalin which is the most rounded we have in any language. A mass of contradictions, he is brilliantly brought to life in this superb biography (Martin McCauley)
YOUNG STALIN, like its predecessor, bubbles over like an erupting volcano. A better metaphor might be a Siberian snowstorm: the details glitter, and freeze the blood (Daniel Snowman)
All stars
Most relevant
Superb recent history of pre-revolution Stalin, from childhood up to October 1917. Based largely it seems on recently released archival material. Those Russkies kept records on everything and everyone. Stalin is revealed to be a far more interesting and human character from the cold fish terror of 'The Terror' and beyond. I had bought the second volume (The Court of the Red Tsar) first, thinking this is the Stalin I want to know about. Big Mistake which I realised about 10 minutes in. You need to know what comes before the 1930's purging Stalin, indeed what helps explain (as much as one can) the infectious paranoia of those times. The fascinating story of Stalin's early life may help.

The dialogue is fabulous, the narration is superb. Sean Barratt has one of the great documentary voices. Some knowledge of Russian history of this time might be useful, yet the brief sketches of Lenin , Trotsky and other major figures and events are probably enough. This is not a detailed history of Communism, more a tale of a model dictator and how he came to be. The scary thing is, at times you feel you could have liked him !

Good old Secret Police for keeping tabs !

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A tremendous insight and profile of the giant of Marxism that will inform the reader of the events that led through a twisted journey of Stalin’s rise, in put down able, switchgrass off the phone and get carried away to the rise of the revolution.Sean Bennet presents the narrative superbly.

Enthralling, put everything on hold and enjoy.

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Very clear and suitably sober narration. Effective abridgement. Enjoyed the story if not the man and his deeds.

Sturdy abridgement

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Loved this book, really engaging insight into a brutal but fascinating character. I will be getting the Red Tsar by the same author to find out what happens next. It is well read by the narrator.

Brilliant

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The book loses a star because it’s abridged which always makes me feel cheated. This is the story of Stalin’s life up to the October Revolution from the marriage of his putative father, Beso, a Georgian cobbler who descended into alcoholism, to his ambitious attractive mother, Keke. Choir boy, seminarian, bank robber, terrorist and revolutionary, ruthless and amoral, Stalin seemed an unlikely successor to the 300 year Romanov dynasty, especially as he wasn’t Russian (neither were they, in truth, as Tsar followed Tsar with increasingly Germanic heredity!)

From choir boy to apprentice tyrant.

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