Ronald Grigor Suny Bücher

An authoritative examination of unspeakable horrors. . . . [D]eeply researched, fair-minded. . . . Suny creates a compelling narrative of vengeance and terror.--Kirkus, starred review

Tracking the degeneration of the Russian Revolution

This biography of young Stalin goes beyond simply recounting his transformation into a revolutionary; it represents the first serious investigation into his evolution, utilizing a wide range of Russian and Georgian archives. Suny delves into Stalin's early life, exploring his intellectual development, his views on nationalism, and his involvement in Social Democratic debates during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The narrative portrays a tragic downfall as Stalin shifts from a poor seminarian and romantic nationalist poet to a ruthless political figure. While many biographers resort to superficial psychological analyses, attributing his revolutionary fervor to childhood trauma or idolization of Lenin, Suny places Stalin within the complex context of the oppressive tsarist police state and the vibrant political debates of his time. Despite working with fragmented evidence, Suny successfully situates Stalin within his intellectual and political milieu, offering a nuanced understanding of his psychological and intellectual transformation, as well as a revisionist perspective on the revolutionary movements that preceded 1917.

In Becoming National Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, two of the foremost authorities on nationalism, acknowledge these changes by combining a diverse selection of readings with a unifying introduction and instructive headnotes that move the discussion of nationalism onto a new and contemporary level. Each group of readings is introduced by a brief historical essay, and the readings are fully annotated. Emphasizing the recent intellectual advances and influential ideas of Miroslav Hroch, Benedict Anderson, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Lauren Berlant and a host of others, this book underscores the nineteenth and twentieth century nationalist theories to show not only where scholars of nationalism have been but where they are going.