{"title":"David R Stone","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"soviet-union-at-war-1941-1945-book-david-r-stone-9781848840522","title":"Soviet Union at War 1941-1945","description":"Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 precipitated a massive clash of arms that gave rise to destruction and suffering on an unprecedented scale. The outcome of this ruthless struggle on the Eastern Front was decisive for the course of the war in Europe. Yet the campaigns fought there still receive less attention than those fought by the Western Allies, and are less well understood. That is why this new survey of the Soviet Union during the Second World War, edited by David R. Stone, is so timely and significant. He has brought together a distinguished group of experts who give a penetrating reassessment of the Soviet war effort and economy. They offer a telling insight into the way in which enormous obstacles were overcome - and sacrifices were made - in order to achieve an overwhelming victory that changed the shape of Europe. Their wide-ranging analysis seeks to dispel myths and misperceptions that have distorted our understanding of the performance of the Red Army and the Soviet people.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49505655947537,"sku":"GOR007313119","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50400648233233,"sku":"CIN1848840527VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51423738593553,"sku":"CIN1848840527G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1848840527.jpg?v=1751155192"},{"product_id":"russian-army-in-the-great-war-book-david-r-stone-9780700620951","title":"The Russian Army in the Great War","description":"A full century later, our picture of World War I remains one of wholesale, pointless slaughter in the trenches of the Western front. Expanding our focus to the Eastern front, as David R. Stone does in this masterly work, fundamentally alters—and clarifies—that picture. A thorough, and thoroughly readable, history of the Russian front during the First World War, this book corrects widespread misperceptions of the Russian Army and the war in the east even as it deepens and extends our understanding of the broader conflict.  Of the four empires at war by the end of 1914—the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German, and Russian—none survived. But specific political, social, and economic weaknesses shaped the way Russia collapsed and returned as a radically new Soviet regime. It is this context that Stone’s work provides, that gives readers a more judicious view of Russia’s war on the home front as well as on the front lines. One key and fateful difference in the Russian experience emerges here: its failure to systematically and comprehensively reorganize its society for war, while the three westernmost powers embarked on programs of total mobilization.  Context is also vital to understanding the particular rhythm of the war in the east. Drawing on recent and newly available scholarship in Russian and in English, Stone offers a nuanced account of Russia’s military operations, concentrating on the uninterrupted sequence of campaigns in the first 18 months of war. The eastern empires’ race to collapse underlines the critical importance of contingency in the complete story of World War I. Precisely when and how Russia lost the war was influenced by the structural strengths and weaknesses of its social and economic system, but also by the outcome of events on the battlefield. By bringing these events into focus, and putting them into context, this book corrects and enriches our picture of World War I, and of the true strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and successes of the Russian Army in the Great War.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49680121037073,"sku":"CIN0700620958G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49732416438545,"sku":"NGR9780700620951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52615655588113,"sku":"NLS9780700620951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0700620958.jpg?v=1763478019"},{"product_id":"hammer-and-rifle-book-david-r-stone-9780700610372","title":"Hammer and Rifle","description":"From 1926 to 1933, a vast transformation swept through the Soviet Union, a massive militarization of society that was as powerful and far-reaching as the Revolution itself. This work chronicles this transformation and shows why it is so central to our understanding of Stalin's emergence and consolidation of power. While collectivization dramatically altered rural Russia and Stalin ruthlessly secured his control over the state apparatus, a military-industrial revolution remade the USSR into an immensely powerful war machine. As Stone reveals, the militarization of the Soviet economy - marked by a rapidly expanding defence industry, increasing centralized control and growing military influence over economic policies - was an essential element in Stalin's strong-armed revolution from above. Spurred by the Bolshevik's unrelenting suspicions of other nations, the Soviet state embraced rearmament and military preparedness as its guarantee for national survival. Soviet military thinkers, Stone shows, pushed for a ruthlessly centralized economy - one requiring total integration of state and society - as the necessary means for achieving victory in future wars. The result was an ever upwardly spiralling defence budget and increasing military domination of civilian society. Stone demonstrates how this domination emerged, evolved and entrenched itself. But he also suggests that this military-industrial revolution, theoretically designed to protect the Soviet Union's national security, instead nearly destroyed it at the beginning of World War II. The rigid and inflexible economy that resulted ultimately undermined the Soviet state itself, destroying from within much of what it had tried to defend. Based on the use of new archival sources, Stone's study also provides a cautionary tale about civil-military relations in an increasingly dangerous world.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50360315838737,"sku":"CIN0700610375VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51828753301777,"sku":"CIN0700610375G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0700610375.jpg?v=1758794369"},{"product_id":"russian-army-in-the-great-war-book-david-r-stone-9780700633081","title":"The Russian Army in the Great War","description":"A thorough, and thoroughly readable, history of the Russian front during the First World War, this book corrects widespread misperceptions of the Russian Army and the war in the east even as it deepens and extends our understanding of the broader conflict.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52404395409681,"sku":"NLS9780700633081","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780700633081.jpg?v=1758764080"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-david-r-stone.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}