There is also a good review in the Financial Times which emphasises Stalin being well read. My favourite was 'On a book about the English Civil War, he made a mark comparing the Puritan chaplains of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army with the political commissars of the Soviet Red Army.' This is apparently a popular comparison and Putin is a Cromwell fan too.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/af83a4c8-966... (amp link hopefully avoids paywall) and https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/stalin-hitler-and-cromwell-a... for a Stalin/Cromwell comparison.