The figure of Stalin continues to intrigue, fascinate, and repel historians into the 21st century, while in the Russian Federation, he has returned to the status of a figure to be respected, principally as the leader who led his country through industrialization and militarization, enabling it to defeat Nazi Germany in the Second World War, thereby saving Europe and much of the world from the "brown plague" of Fascism. He presided over some of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century, of some of which he was the architect: collectivization of agriculture, famine, the Purges, and the Second World War.
Joseph Stalin: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works captures his life, and legacy. It features a chronology, an introduction offers a brief account of his life, a dictionary section lists entries on Stalin's associates from the period of the Russian Empire in the late 19th century to the leader's death in 1953, and beyond, highlighting their careers and the main events.
David R. Marples is a distinguished university professor of Russian and East European History, University of Alberta. He is the author of sixteen single-authored books, includingUnderstanding Ukraine and Belarus (2020),Our Glorious Past: Lukashenkas Belarus and the Great Patriotic War (2014),Russia in the 20th Century: The Quest for Stability (2011), andHeroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine (2008). He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has also edited four books on nuclear power and security in the former Soviet Union, contemporary Belarus, and Ukraine.
Alla Hurska is an associate fellow with the International Centre for Policy Studies (Kyiv) and an Analyst in the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, US). She is a team member of the Defence and Security Foresight Group (European NATO team), University of Waterloo and a Graduate Fellow of the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (Trent University, School for the Study of Canada).
