Stalin. Man of Contradiction

A popularly written re-evaluation of the man who shaped the Soviet Union and modern history in critical ways. It challenges the current tide of the denunciatory oversimplification, the "immediate purpose" of which, the author argues, is "to arbitrarily establish an image so monstrous as to make balanced evaluation suspect."

Cameron attempts such an evaluation, emphasizing the contradiction between Stalin's political thinking and his metaphysical philosophizing, between his great practical accomplishments and his failures as a Marxist theorist. The book traces his career from his days as a young romantic poet – like a young Shelley or Byron – in his native Georgia to his firm conduct of the war against Nazi Germany.