A person’s library can tell us only so much. Mr. Roberts underscores the limitations of book collections and marginalia in illuminating his subject’s mind.

A truly fascinating study that leaves no doubt that Stalin took ideas as seriously as political power itself.

Stalin kept no diary and wrote no memoirs, so these scribblings in the margins become invested with greater significance than perhaps they deserve. Roberts warns against reading too much into Stalin’s decision to underline a line attributed to Genghis Khan.

A new perspective on the dictator.

Alas, in Stalin's Library Roberts can not offer a close analysis of the entire holdings of Stalin's personal library, as: 'the dictator's books were dispersed to other libraries'.