Here's an extremely neutral, measured, academic, even cagey discussion of the man in his historical context.
It's an interview of two historians who co-edited a recent book on him.
Perfect introduction and an interesting pod imo.
https://departures.libsyn.com/rethinking-our-engrained-assumptions-about-russia-stalin-and-stalinism
Way to totally out yourself as a lib tbh, I did title this "for the libs in your life" :tito-laugh:
Thought it was an interesting listen though. Gonna get their book on libgen and add it to the infinite queue.
:horror: