He was a writer and actor, known for Clancy of the Mounted (1933), The Trail of '98 (1928) and The Roughneck (1924). Overview Poem Activity. He was a newspaper correspondent for the Toronto Star during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 and an ambulance driver and correspondent during World War I. Service’s first verse collections, Songs of a Sourdough (1907) and Ballads of a Cheechako (1909), describing life in the Canadian north, were enormously popular. After reading this biography by Robert Service, I would read anything he wrote. Trotsky is perhaps the most intriguing and, given his prominence, the most understudied of … Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images. Omissions? The author, Robert Service, does a fine job of giving the reader a firm grasp of the life of Trotsky and Service achieves this without bias and without overloading the reader with unnecessary detail. The son of a bank cashier, Service was the eldest of four siblings. Robert Service completes his masterful trilogy on the founding figures of the Soviet Union in an eagerly anticipated, authoritative biography of Leon Trotsky. Now I … “ In his new biography of the Soviet dictator, Robert Service has given the most convincing description yet of how Stalin’s insecure Georgian childhood fashioned his psychology. Service emigrated to Canada in 1896 and, while working for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Victoria, British Columbia, was stationed for eight years in the Yukon. At the age of five, Service went to Scotland to live with his grandfather and three young aunts, who showered him with attention. He died on September 11, 1958 in Lancieux, Côtes-d'Armor, France. Goes through Stalin's childhood, growing up, meeting Lenin, Russian revolution, Nadia, becoming the supreme leader of the USSR, the great terror, fighting Hitler, the big three and up to his final moments. This biography stresses the importance of his supportive family and of its ethnic and cultural background. He then moved to Western Canada and subsequently north to the Yukon Territory. [5] The book won the Duff Cooper Prize in the publication year 2009. At key points in the book, we are reminded of Stalin's duality—on the one hand he was a proud Caucasian toughie who organized bank robberies and could drink spirits all night. Robert William Service, the renowned poet of the Yukon, was born in Lancashire, England, on January 16, 1874. He grew up with nine siblings in Lancashire, England and Glasgow, Scotland. Educated at Cambridge and Essex Universities, Service held a professorship at Oxford until 2013. He is best known for his biographies of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. He went to Essex and Leningrad universities for his postgraduate work, and taught at Keele and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, before joining Oxford University in 1998. Robert Service is one of Britain’s best-known experts on Russia and the Russian Revolution. In his new biography of the Soviet dictator, Robert Service has given the most convincing description yet of how Stalin's insecure Georgian childhood fashioned his psychology. I knew very little about him before reading this book. Robert W. Service. Robert Service's Lenin is a political colossus but also a believable human being. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. [2] Patenaude, reviewing Service's book alongside a rebuttal by the Trotskyist David North (In Defence of Leon Trotsky), charged Service with making dozens of factual errors, misrepresenting evidence, and "fail[ing] to examine in a serious way Trotsky's political ideas". He has made a career of dispassionately analyzing Communists and Communism, including writing biographies of Lenin and Stalin. $29.95 (715p) ISBN 978-0-674-01697-2 Robert Service makes a lot of interesting highlighted points in this book. Robert Service is a Fellow of the British Academy and of St Antony's College, Oxford. The chapters are similarly sized, each offering a detailed chunk of Trotsky's life , without being bogged down with minutia, yet still offering more than enough information to satisfy the reader. Corrections? Robert Service, Author.Harvard Univ. Making use of recently opened archives, he has been able to piece together the private as well as the public life, giving the first complete picture of Lenin. Robert William Service Preston. Robert W. Service, in full Robert William Service, (born January 16, 1874, Preston, Lancashire, England—died September 11, 1958, Lancieux, France), popular verse writer called “the Canadian Kipling” for rollicking ballads of the “frozen North,” notably “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”. His reward for this is to be regularly attacked by Communists and their allies, and those attacks reached a fever pitch upon the publication of Trotsky in 2009. Robert John Service (lahir di Britania Raya, 29 Oktober 1947; umur 73 tahun) adalah seorang sejarawan, akademisi, dan pengarang Inggris yang menulis tentang sejarah Uni Soviet, terutama era dari Revolusi Oktober sampai kematian Stalin. Robert W. Service was born on January 16, 1874 in England. Service spent his undergraduate years at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied Russian and classical Greek. He is currently a professor of Russian history at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. After spending his childhood in Scotland he came to Canada in 1894, working for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in the Yukon for eight years. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The book was criticised by the German historian of communism Hermann Weber, who led a campaign to prevent Suhrkamp Verlag from publishing it in Germany. Robert W. Service, in full Robert William Service, (born January 16, 1874, Preston, Lancashire, England—died September 11, 1958, Lancieux, France), popular verse writer called “the Canadian Kipling” for rollicking ballads of the “frozen North,” notably “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”. Born in Lancashire, England to a bank cashier and an heiress, poet Robert William Service moved to Scotland at the age of five, living with his grandfather and three aunts until his parents moved to … He was married to Bourgoin, Germain. Robert William Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, England. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-W-Service, Electric Scotland - Boigraphy of Robert W Service, A Celebration of Women Writers - Robert W. Service, Academy of American Poets - Biography of Robert W. Service, Robert William Service - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. At key points in the book, we are reminded of Stalin’s duality—on the one hand he was a proud Caucasian toughie who organized bank robberies and could drink spirits all night. Fourteen historians and sociologists signed a letter to the publishing house. Famous Canadian poet is one of the most widely read poets of the 20 century in English. Quotes. Briefly served in the United States Army during World War II, with service number 39 744 068, from April 12 - October 11, 1945, after he was drafted. It was his deep embedded passion for reading and writing since an early age that paved his way for future. Biography of Robert William Service a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". Overthrowing the conventional image of Stalin as an uneducated political administrator inexplicably transformed into a pathological killer, Robert Service reveals a more complex and fascinating story behind this notorious twentieth-century figure. Robert W. Service is best known as a Poet. Stalin himself orchestrated this, silencing his witnesses and systematically distorting, hiding and destroying documents. He has been a fellow of the British Academy since 1998.[1]. He is a prolific writer, penning eight books on modern Russian history, including biographies of Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Overthrowing the conventional image of Stalin as an uneducated political administrator inexplicably transformed into a pathological killer, Robert Service reveals a more complex and fascinating story behind this notorious twentieth-century figure. Robert Service grew up in Scotland and tried a career in … Robert W. Service. Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; … He also wrote two autobiographical works, Ploughman of the Moon (1945) and Harper of Heaven (1948). Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, the third of ten children. Trotsky is perhaps the most intriguing and, given his prominence, the most understudied of the Soviet revolutionaries. Robert John Service FBA (born 29 October 1947) is a British historian, academic, and author who has written extensively on the history of the Soviet Union, particularly the era from the October Revolution to Stalin's death. He has written several books, including the highly acclaimed Lenin: A Biography, Russia: Experiment with a People, Stalin: A Biography and Comrades: A History of World Communism, as well as many other books on Russia's past and present.Trotsky: A Biography was awarded the 2009 Duff Cooper Prize. Among his later volumes of verse are Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (1916) and Bar Room Ballads (1940). For the British-Canadian poet, see, Service speaking at the Tallinn Literature Festival HeadRead in May 2011, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, "European historians oppose publication by Suhrkamp of Robert Service's Trotsky biography", “Robert Service has written a diatribe, not a scientific polemic!”, "The Penguin History of Modern Russia – Robert Service – Penguin Books", "Review of Robert Service's Stalin: A Biography–Part One", "Review: A 'dis-Service' to Leon Trotsky", A book that fails to meet the basic standards of historical scholarship, The American Historical Review discredits Robert Service’s biography of Leon Trotsky, Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, Gilla Isa Mor mac Donnchadh MacFhirbhisigh, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Service_(historian)&oldid=997280027, Academics of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Biographies of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Leon Trotsky, This page was last edited on 30 December 2020, at 20:18. 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