Let's see, are you looking into a general overview of the Stalin period, anything specific, primary sources from the period, or more like random shit? For that last one I put out a bunch of random shit from that period in the /c/Marxism page.
For more specifics I'd have to wait until I get off work to cite books in my library. I can recommend the book Henri Barbusse wrote. Staline: Un monde nouveau vu à travers un homme or as its known in english Stalin: A New World Seen Through the Man
If you want a more "unbiased" work, Kotkin's first book on Stalin is probably one of the better cold war warrior books out there. Even Grover Furr acknowledged the first book as being generally true to historical fact with little distortion. Just be aware that Kotkin's a reactionary that praises the white army butchers while glazing over their crimes against humanity while hyperfocusing on every slight the Reds ever did. @riley can attest to that since we both are going through the book.
This and this are from Ludo Martens. They're good too.
Furr is a land of contrasts. He does indeed to good work by cross-examining the sources many cold war warriors use to either debunk them as non-primary source hearsay, or primary sources distorted by the authors, etc. If you do read any of his stuff take his own words of advice to heart: examine any primary source presented to you personally to verify it's truthfulness. If someone like Robert Service write a book about how Stalin purposely targeted the ukranians for genocide by starvation and then cites Mark Tauger's study, then if you must examine Tauger's study to verify Service's claim. (Tauger says it was a shit harvest as a result of drought and disease that were the primary cause of the "holodomor" btw). The same goes for anything Furr writes, if you read his books then examine his sources.
I'll probably write another comment when I get home. You can also @ me if you have questions
I read a bit of both kotkin's second book then skipped over to Furrs book on the second book to read the general synopsis of both, and put them both down to read other books. Kotkin's second book basically went full cold war warrior, loosing a lot of the relative objectivity the first book had on Stalin as a man and veers off more towards Stalin as a caricature.
Furr basically echos this and says more or less if you're a serious communist intent on learning about the man and the history around him the first book was good enough with the successor two after it being serious can of :brainworms: . More or less said if you want to torture yourself you can keep reading, or you can read kotkin and furr side by side since furr said his book basically spends the whole time cross-examining Kotkin's book.
Molotov Remembers by Felix Chuev, This Soviet World by Anna Strong, twenty letters to a friend by Svetlana Alliluyeva, The Politburo - the men who run Russia by Duranty, Russian Justice by Marcy Callcott, Stalin's Kampf by "written by himself" edited by M.R Werner, Joseph Stalin a short biography compiled by G.F Alexandrov and Co., fraud famine and fascism by Douglas tottle, Stalin's Library by Geoffrey Roberts, The Unwomanly Face of War and Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich, The Third Reich at War by Richard Evans, Hitler's army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich by Omer Bartov.
That's what I have at home, not accounting for more books I'm trying to get.
You can also check out Stalinism.ru for more random info, although for some reason I can't access it rn. Some people say they can so hopefully do can you
Let's see, are you looking into a general overview of the Stalin period, anything specific, primary sources from the period, or more like random shit? For that last one I put out a bunch of random shit from that period in the /c/Marxism page.
For more specifics I'd have to wait until I get off work to cite books in my library. I can recommend the book Henri Barbusse wrote. Staline: Un monde nouveau vu à travers un homme or as its known in english Stalin: A New World Seen Through the Man
If you want a more "unbiased" work, Kotkin's first book on Stalin is probably one of the better cold war warrior books out there. Even Grover Furr acknowledged the first book as being generally true to historical fact with little distortion. Just be aware that Kotkin's a reactionary that praises the white army butchers while glazing over their crimes against humanity while hyperfocusing on every slight the Reds ever did. @riley can attest to that since we both are going through the book.
This and this are from Ludo Martens. They're good too.
Furr is a land of contrasts. He does indeed to good work by cross-examining the sources many cold war warriors use to either debunk them as non-primary source hearsay, or primary sources distorted by the authors, etc. If you do read any of his stuff take his own words of advice to heart: examine any primary source presented to you personally to verify it's truthfulness. If someone like Robert Service write a book about how Stalin purposely targeted the ukranians for genocide by starvation and then cites Mark Tauger's study, then if you must examine Tauger's study to verify Service's claim. (Tauger says it was a shit harvest as a result of drought and disease that were the primary cause of the "holodomor" btw). The same goes for anything Furr writes, if you read his books then examine his sources.
I'll probably write another comment when I get home. You can also @ me if you have questions
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I read a bit of both kotkin's second book then skipped over to Furrs book on the second book to read the general synopsis of both, and put them both down to read other books. Kotkin's second book basically went full cold war warrior, loosing a lot of the relative objectivity the first book had on Stalin as a man and veers off more towards Stalin as a caricature.
Furr basically echos this and says more or less if you're a serious communist intent on learning about the man and the history around him the first book was good enough with the successor two after it being serious can of :brainworms: . More or less said if you want to torture yourself you can keep reading, or you can read kotkin and furr side by side since furr said his book basically spends the whole time cross-examining Kotkin's book.
Follow up comment on books
Molotov Remembers by Felix Chuev, This Soviet World by Anna Strong, twenty letters to a friend by Svetlana Alliluyeva, The Politburo - the men who run Russia by Duranty, Russian Justice by Marcy Callcott, Stalin's Kampf by "written by himself" edited by M.R Werner, Joseph Stalin a short biography compiled by G.F Alexandrov and Co., fraud famine and fascism by Douglas tottle, Stalin's Library by Geoffrey Roberts, The Unwomanly Face of War and Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich, The Third Reich at War by Richard Evans, Hitler's army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich by Omer Bartov.
That's what I have at home, not accounting for more books I'm trying to get.
deleted by creator
You can also check out Stalinism.ru for more random info, although for some reason I can't access it rn. Some people say they can so hopefully do can you