On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched a massive three-pronged attack on the Soviet Union, and in days his troops were within reach of Moscow. The attack was stunning, but Stalin's response was even more astonishing: during the invasion, the mighty Soviet military stood in place while its soldiers were slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands. The Red Army's effort to regain the territory lost in those first ten days cost more than ten million Soviet lives. Drawing on a wealth of newly available documents, the Russian historian Constantine Pleshakov paints a startling portrait of Stalin, one of history's most feared despots, as a vulnerable and paralyzed leader. A fascinating hour-by-hour account, Stalin's Folly illuminates an enigmatic and ruthless figure while providing a new and far deeper understanding of Russian history.