Stephen Kotkin

One of the great works of modern history - the definitive biography of one of the world's most powerful and frightening rulers. Stalin's life is one of the most extraordinary of the modern era, and Stephen Kotkin's new biography is the first to do full justice to both the man himself and the world which he both dominated and ruined....

Stephen Kotkin was the first American in 45 years to be allowed into Magnitogorsk, a city built in response to Stalin's decision to transform the predominately agricultural nation into a "country of metal". With access to previously untapped archives and interviews, Kotkin presents an account of the impact of industrialization on a single urban community.