so now we move on to this year's winner, stephen kotkin professor history and international affairs he won for his definitive biography of joseph stalin the second volume in the trilogy to the conflict of hitler's germany the judges notation reads a stunning achievement to review with precision the. that the inpatient dictator develops into a monster to use the authoritarian rule and course of power to manipulate those visions to forge despotism through mass bloodshed through the command of the immense body of documents comprehensively is remaking the ussr into an empire he gets inside the mind of a tyrant of murderous of sessions leading to execute nearly 1 million people. the second volume deepens the understanding of a tragic. by his extension with the rise in germany that conflagration in modern history into his right a captivating biography with the evolution of stalin as a human being a political operator in this horrific era of modern history please join me to congratulate stephen kotkin. [applause] mac lastly the j anthony lukas prize for narrative nonfiction on the topic of po