Book Review: Stalin's Library

 

Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's Library: a Dictator and His Books. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022.  ISBN:  9780300179040.

 

Genre: libraries, biography, politics

Subgenre: history, Russian, Soviet Union

Format: hardcover

Source: Via Interlibrary Loan through Hutchins Library, Berea College. The book came from Alcuin Library, St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.  

 

If memory serves me right, I saw this book mentioned somewhere on social media. I like reading about books and libraries, so this book seemed to fit the bill. The book has an introduction, seven chapters, a conclusion, notes, and a further reading list. 

To be honest, this book is really a political biography of Stalin with a bit of a literacy narrative. We learn that Stalin was an avid and attentive reader. He read extensively, and he read books within his ideologies as well as books by his rivals and enemies. Stalin also read some works from other countries in Russian translation. 

We know a lot about Stalin as a reader from the remnants of his personal library. I say remnants because Stalin's personal library was dispersed after his death. Stalin was an active reader, and he made a lot of notes in his books as he read. This marginalia gives us insight into Stalin's thoughts on various topics and issues. In addition, Stalin was an active editor of documents, his and other people's documents, and scholars have studied these documents too. 

The most interesting part of the book is the look at Stalin's library, the kinds of books he collected and read. The part about how Stalin arranged his books, or rather had a librarian do it for him, is also interesting. 

The rest of the book is mostly a political biography, and it is not always interesting. At times, this biography goes a bit much into minutiae. This can make the text a bit dense to read at times. Some readers may choose to skim through some of this material. 

I would say that much of this book feels more like an academic article or two on Stalin as a reader. At some point, someone decided to pitch a book, and the additional biographical material, which often is not connected to Stalin as a reader, feels like filler at times. The result is that the interesting topic of Stalin as a reader and his books gets lost in the rest of the text. 

For public libraries, this may be a book to skip. For academic libraries, large academic libraries with strong collections on the Soviet Union, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia might find this to be an optional selection. It may also be an optional selection for LIS/library school libraries. 

In the end, this was just OK. This is not really a book that can be read for pleasure.

2 out of 5 stars. 

* * * * * 

 

Additional reading notes: 

 

 What the book aims to do: 

"This book explores the intellectual life and biography of one of history's bloodiest dictators: Joseph Stalin. Uniquely, it does so through the prism of his personal library. A dedicated reader and self-improver, Stalin's accumulation of books was a lifelong passion" (1).

Part of me thinks that the line we often hear about how reading makes people better is not really true, at least not in all cases. In this case, just look at Stalin. 

 

How the book views Stalin, according to the author: 

"This book views Stalin through a different lens-- as a dedicated idealist and as an activist intellectual who valued ideas as much as power, who was ceaseless in his own efforts at self-education, a restless mind, reading for the revolution to the very end of his life" (6). 

Books are the best way to know Stalin's inner life: 

"Apart from private photographs and some hastily written and perfunctory letters to family members, Stalin's library books are among the best means we have of accessing the dictator's inner life" (15). 

Stalin seeing himself as an intellectual: 

"Stalin saw himself as neither a worker nor a peasant, but as, in effect, an intellectual whose task it was to spread enlightenment and socialist consciousness. It was this fundamental choice of an intellectual identity that motivated his fanatical, life-long commitment to reading and self-improvement" (48). 

Yet in a way Stalin read like many of us read: 

"Stalin read books in diverse ways-- selectively or comprehensively, cursorily or with avid attention. Some he read cover to cover, others he merely skimmed. Sometimes he would begin reading a book, lose interest after a few pages and jump from the introduction to the conclusion. Some books he read in a single sitting, others he dipped in and out of" (97). 

What Stalin's library reveals: 

"In truth, no smoking guns are to be found anywhere in the remnants of Stalin's library. His pometki reveal preoccupations not secrets, and the way he engaged with ideas, arguments, and facts" (101). 

A reason Stalin read a lot: 

"Admittedly, complexity, depth, and subtlety were not strengths of Stalin's nor was he an original thinker. His lifelong practice was to utilise other people's ideas, formulations and information-- that was why he read such a lot. His intellectual hallmark was that of a brilliant simplifier, clarifier, and populariser" (153).