That Losurdo book looks awesome, I'm definitely putting that on my reading list.
it has never been officially published in English due to its controversial nature
I myself am somewhat skeptical of Grover Furr, but he has a point that you simply cannot portray Stalin as anything other than a monster in Western historical study, it's simply not allowed. And this is great proof of his point. The thing is, Furr isn't the type of person who should be examining Stalin (and I think he would possibly agree with that), but no one else is doing it or there's roadblocks put in the way of people who might want to. He's right that if you try and deviate from this position on Stalin in the West at least, you get punished. And someone like Kotkin can write whatever he wants about Stalin and not get any pushback because no one even bothers to examine Stalin critically.
Oh for sure, I'm glad Furr exists and support his overarching goal of revisionist history in hegemonic Western academia. I love Losurdo's book because he starts with all these amazing quotes of figures who just years later would call Stalin "evil tyrannical maniac" all praising Stalin as a titan and a hero upon his death. Really covers how quickly and how totally the image of Stalin was dragged through the mud for propaganda's sake.
That Losurdo book looks awesome, I'm definitely putting that on my reading list.
I myself am somewhat skeptical of Grover Furr, but he has a point that you simply cannot portray Stalin as anything other than a monster in Western historical study, it's simply not allowed. And this is great proof of his point. The thing is, Furr isn't the type of person who should be examining Stalin (and I think he would possibly agree with that), but no one else is doing it or there's roadblocks put in the way of people who might want to. He's right that if you try and deviate from this position on Stalin in the West at least, you get punished. And someone like Kotkin can write whatever he wants about Stalin and not get any pushback because no one even bothers to examine Stalin critically.
Oh for sure, I'm glad Furr exists and support his overarching goal of revisionist history in hegemonic Western academia. I love Losurdo's book because he starts with all these amazing quotes of figures who just years later would call Stalin "evil tyrannical maniac" all praising Stalin as a titan and a hero upon his death. Really covers how quickly and how totally the image of Stalin was dragged through the mud for propaganda's sake.