Young Stalin

Not long ago I read a book called 'Young Stalin,' about the early years of, you guessed it, Joseph Stalin.

I've never been more disturbed, or amazed, by a book. Stalin's capacity for evil and his daring and genius in carrying it out were simply bone chilling. It's hard to believe, let alone comprehend, how someone in their teens could put together a private spy-ring composed of the children of the ruling class of a city, (Tbilisi, in the Georgian Caucasus), and within five years crush that country's government.
In the process of carrying this out, he joined a monastery and soon took it over to use it for his own political ends! When he was briefly thrown in prison for conspiracy, he quickly took over the prison, and used it as a center for coordinating anti-government warfare. Despite what some people still claim there was nothing ever remotely idealistic about Stalin after the age of 14.

What he was, was a criminal mastermind.

Somehow, certain people do seem able to tap into a kind of evil synergy in this world and everything goes their way, while all too often the benevolent ambitions are foiled at every turn. It seems to me that this is tied to the Darwinian order, the rather appauling biological order of life. While those who reach for the higher order seem only able to attain their goals obliquly, falteringly. This book reinforced that thinking to a degree that I was left wondering, what I am doing here?