I have been reading
"Young Stalin" by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I am about two thirds of the way through and it's one of the best history books I have ever read. I know that might sound like quite an accolade given that I have a 2:1 in Modern History from Oxford University, but the truth is that I read very few books, preferring to write and perform comedy, stay in bed and fail to get off with girls. I don't know how I managed to get a degree at all, let alone a respectable one. Either I am a genius or Oxford isn't all it's cracked up to be. Let's say I am a genius. Yes.
It took me a few years after college before I would even pick up a history book, but I have read a few enjoyable ones in recent years:
Beevor's "Stalingrad" is brilliant and
Kershaw's "Hitler: Hubris" is another stonker (though I didn't really get into the second volume , "Nemesis", though will try to read it soon, so don't tell me what happens.
But I think this Stalin book is the best of the lot. It incredibly well written. I know a lot of history books can be dry and boring, even when they're about major world events (which let's face it, most of them are), but the impossibly posh sounding Sebastian Sebag Montefiore (is Sebag his middle name or has he got two surnames? If it's a middle name then it's right up there with Keith and Makepeace in the embarrassment stakes) writes like a novelist and makes the most of what is, let's face it, an almost unbelievable story of adventure and incident. Yet it's still academically sound and a serious study of this intriguing and terrifying subject. You must read it. It's great.
Stalin's rise from poor beginnings in Tsarist Russia to leader of a communist super power has always fascinated me, but I don't think I knew too much about the early years of terrorism, bank robberies and exile. It's extraordinary that the supposedly brutal Tsarist regime knew all about the Bolsheviks and yet didn't attempt to liquidate them. I suppose they underestimated their importance and to be fair, who could have predicted that the whole country's political system would be smashed so easily? Or that a raggedy band of terrorists would actually manage to depose a tsarist regime that had lasted for hundreds of years.
It would be almost romantic if Stalin hadn't turned out to be one of the most brutal leaders that the world has ever seen, worse than what had gone before in almost every way and would also be responsible for the deaths of so many people who had fought alongside him. It's terrifying and exhilarating and not without resonance in the modern world.
Highly recommended.
