Stalin : history and critique of a black legend
Losurdo, Domenico2023
Book
Iskra Books is proud to publish the first authorized English edition of Domenico Losurdo's now-mythic text, Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend-translated for the first time from the original Italian. Operating under the assumption that the prevalent rejection of, or dismissiveness about, Josef Stalin as a historical figure merits closer and critical inspection, Losurdo encourages readers to make up their own mind on Stalin, rather than to uncritically accept received, popular notions. In fact, it is precisely the now-widespread caricatures of Stalin as personified evil-rife in liberal democracies and uncritically accepted by most Western leftists-that Losurdo shows to be more related to contingent ruling class preoccupations than actual evidence. Even pointing out such problems with conventional representations of Stalin brought a shower of accusations of "Stalinism" or "neo-Stalinism" upon Losurdo, who made it clear that the text of Stalin was not a rehabilitation but a contribution to contextualizing and ending the demonization of Stalin, who was even, in 1946, praised by Gandhi. Losurdo's work on the historical representations of Stalin, as well as other works like it, is perhaps more vital today than it ever has been. With the passage of time, we become further removed from the contemporary voices challenging the construction of what has become the hegemonic view of Stalin. Losurdo teaches us, among other things, that historical contextualization and coeval comparisons are crucial to testing one's political philosophy and principles, to deepening our knowledge of socialist history, and, at the same time, a key to dismantling bourgeois ideologies.
Main title:
Stalin : history and critique of a black legend / Domenico Losurdo ; afterword, Luciano Canfora ; translated and introduced by Henry Hakamäki and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro.
Author:
Losurdo, Domenico, authorCanfora, Luciano, writer of afterwordHakamaki, Henry, translatorEngel-Di Mauro, Salvatore, translator
Edition:
Authorized English edition.
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Iskra Books, 2023.©2023
Collation:
xvii, 369 pages ; 22 cm
Notes:
Originally published in Italian as Stalin. Storie e critica di una leggenda nera © 2008 Carocci Editore, Rome.Includes bibliographical references.Translated from the Italian.
ISBN:
9781088162545 (pbk)9781088162545 (paperback)
Dewey class:
947.0842092947.0842
LC class:
DK268.S8
Language:
EnglishItalian
Added title:
Subject:
BRN:
777267
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Melbourne Library | -Biography | BIOG 947.0842 STAL | Available |