Joseph Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. During that quarter-century, by Oleg Khlevniuk's estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin's policies. What drove him toward such ruthlessness? This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that left long-lasting scars on the peoples over which he ruled and altered the course of world history.--Adapted from book jacket.;The seats of Stalinist power -- 1. Before the revolution -- The bulwarks of Stalin's power -- 2. In Lenin's shadow -- A world of reading and contemplation -- 3. His revolution -- Trepidation in the inner circle -- 4. Terror and impending war -- Patient number 1 -- 5. Stalin at war -- Family -- 6. The generalissimo -- The dictatorship collapses -- The funeral: The vozhd, the system, and the people.