Exit Stalin

About the book

'Superb... Immensely important... This is a tragic story, and Smith tells it magnificently' The Telegraph

One of the most anticipated books of 2026 according to Financial Times and New Statesman

An extraordinarily atmospheric and powerful history of the world's largest state and its decline and fall

With Stalin's death, the Soviet Union remained a repressive, harsh and belligerent place, but one which became more predictable for its citizens and one which made a genuine attempt to create the egalitarian, progressive country that the Russian Revolution had once promised. That this attempt would fail was not clear until the 1980s.

Mark B. Smith's remarkable book recreates the day-to-day life of this vast...