The Son of a Factory Worker, Princeton History Professor Stephen Kotkin, has one of the most fascinating minds I've ever encountered.

Five questions for Stephen Kotkin on Uncommon Knowledge Now.

Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge, I'm Peter Robinson.

A professor of history at Princeton and a fellow at the Hoover Institution here at Stanford.

Stephen Kotkin grew up in New York City, received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.

He is the author of nine works of history, nine big works of history, including the first two volumes of his biography of Joseph Stalin,

Paradoxes of Power, 1878 to 1928, and Waiting for Hitler, 1929 to 1941.

Dr. Kotkin is currently completing the third and final volume of that biography of Joseph Stalin,

totalitarian superpower, 1941 to 1990s, and that will be published in about two years.

We hope, we hope, we hope.

All right, COVID has prevented us from seeing each other for the last couple of years, but I've been making notes.

Five questions for my friend Stephen Kotkin.

Question one, China.

You and I had a conversation three, four years ago in which it occurred to me that you have probably spent more time reading Soviet archives than any other person.

And I said to you, Stephen, what's the one central finding? And you replied immediately, they were communists.

The leaders of the Soviet Union really believed that stuff, and they really wanted to achieve the communist goal of worldwide revolution.

What does President Xi Jinping of China believe, and what does he want?

I'm thrilled to be back, Peter. I missed your show, and I'm sorry that we've had this hiatus of a couple of years, but it's really great to be here today.

Thank you for the invitation.

Thank you.

Of course I've been watching all your shows in the interim, but it's really great to be back live.

Thank you, Stephen.

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