Just to add to the bandwagon, Losurdo is perhaps the most essential Marxist author of the 21st century thus far. His works are clarifying, whether it be on Stalin (the one here), Liberalism, China, or "Western" Marxism in general. A superb writer, cannot go wrong!
Losurdo is peak - that's the book that actually got me into reading more about Stalin. Malcolm X is probably very good too, but I don't really know about John Reed.
I was thinking this morning that I should read Ten Days That Shook The World. Because I'd like to know how the world could be shook. What an enticing title.
Autobiography of Malcolm X is a book that I read it a long time ago but it is always coming to mind.