Drawing on a wealth of unexplored material - available for the first time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union - Robert Service`s biography of Stalin is the most authoritative yet published. It concentrates not simply on Stalin as dedicated bureaucrat or serial political killer, but on a fuller assessment of his formative interactions in Georgia, his youthful revolutionary activism, his relationship with Lenin, with his family, and with his party members. `This is effectively the first full biography since perestroika to encompass the economic, political, diplomatic, military, administrative and, above all, ideological dimensions, as well as the personal aspects of Stalin`s colossal Gritty and unshowy, but enlightened by Service`s compelling characterisation, magisterial analysis and dry wit, this outstanding biography of lightly worn authority, wide research and superb intuition will be read for decades` - Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar", "Sunday Times".