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There have been many biographies of Stalin, but the court that surrounded him is untravelled ground. Simon Sebag-Montefiore, acclaimed biographer of Catherine the Great?s lover, prime minister and general, Potemkin, has unearthed the vast underpinning that sustained Stalin. Not only ministers such as Molotov or secret service chiefs such as Beria, but men and women whose loyalty he trusted only until the next purge. Here is the Stalin story from the inside, full of revelations. How the death of Stalin's wife was hushed up - was it suicide? How the Soviet leaders and their families lived and partied inside the Kremlin walls. What happened on the first day of war with Germany in 1941. The fullest account of the meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill that settled the fate of the axis powers. And how the Great Terror in which 10 million died actually happened. Robert Service (St Antony's, Oxford), former head of Russian history at the School of Slavonic Studies, U. of London: 'Simon Sebag Montefiore has pulled it off. His book succeeds in giving us an intimate picture of daily life in the Kremlin under Stalin. The arrests and killings are not ignored; indeed Montefiore supplies extra chapters and verses on the process by which the Soviet dictator moved against his enemies real and potential. An abundance of the sources are wholly new. The result is a gripping account. Stalin was a vengeful conspirator and a murderous leader. But he was also 'normal' in many ways. He was convivial, solicitous and even flirtatious. When he wanted, he could be quite a charmer. This duality has long been under-appreciated, but it helps to explain why Stalin was admired as well as feared by his associates - and indeed why his power endured. This is a fundamental theme and it is one of Montefiore's that he handles it with excitement and cogency.'
- Sales Rank: #1125581 in Books
- Published on: 2003-07-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.65" h x 2.01" w x 6.69" l, 2.79 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 693 pages
Review
The publicity for this has been fantastic and it is still selling like a train, currently no. 6 on THE SUNDAY TIMES & no. 1 on EVENING STANDARD bestseller lists. The following pieces have run: an interview with Simon and his wife Santa in VOGUE (July issue); an article on Stalin's women in the SUNDAY TIMES News Review (29 June); a piece on Stalin's houses in the DAILY TELEGRAPH(8 July); a piece on his research in THE FINANCIAL TIMES (5 July); a book digest in THE DAILY MAIL (8 July) and an article in BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE (August issue). The TV programme, STALIN: THE TERROR, which Simon was the historical consultant on was shown on BBC 2 25 July. The reviews have been amazing: 'This is an extraordinary book..... he has succeeded in bringing alive a group of characters who for too long have seemed too dull to merit much historical investigation, and provided a glimpse of what life was really like behind theKremlin walls.... for anyone fascinated by the nature of evil - and by the effects of absolute power on human relationships - this book will provide new insights on every page.'Anne Applebaum, THE EVENING STANDARD 'Montefiore's new material is important, because it allows for a far more rounded portrait ofStalin....... Montefiore provides rich detail of daily life and family relationships in a world of human values turned inside out.'Antony Beevor, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'his masterful and terrifying account of Stalin.... seldom has the picture been put in finer focus than by Sebag Montefiore. It is partly through his diligent interviews with the children of survivors and his admirable combination of history and gossip that one sees the awful banality, the brutal crudity of the men who carelessly sent so many millions to their senseless deaths'Alistair Horne, THE TIMES 'Grimly brilliant'Andrew Marr, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 'This is a thoughtful book of first-class scholarship as well as transfixing narrative of a vast nation walking head-first into a meat-grinder........ anyone reading this book will feel profound gratitude to Montefiore for a fascinating investigative analysis of the pathology behind the greatest and most senseless sustained blood-letting in world history.'Andrew Roberts, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 'this grim masterpiece'Antonia Fraser, THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Its extraordinary revelation of the evil - the complete amorality - at the heart of the dictator's court will change the way historians approach the great historical questoins about the Stalinist regime.Orlando Figes, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Montefiore's superb book'Tim Abrahams, THE SUNDAY HERALD 'spectacular..... an impressive and compelling work'Philip Mansel, THE SPECTATOR 'Magisterial.... Sebag Montefiore's book is well-written; he evidently has a superb grasp of Russia'Lesley Chamberlain, THE INDEPENDENT 'Thanks to Simon Sebag Montefiore, there is no longer the slightest justification for thinking of Joseph Stalin as anything other than a moster'Roy Hattersley, THE OBSERVER 'Gripping and timely.... This is one of the few recent books on Stalinism that will be read in years to come.'Robert Service, THE GUARDIAN 'A riveting portrait of the man and his ruling circle.'Marc Lambert, THE SCOTSMAN 'An astonishingly good and important book.'Simon Heffer, COUNTRY LIFE 'this magnificent portrait of the dictator'Richard Overy, LIT REVIEW Simon was on THE TODAY PROGRAMME (BBC Radio 4) on 8 July, THE THE ARTS SHOW (BBC Radio Scotland) on 11 July, SUNDAY PROGRAMME (GMTV) on 13 July, THE MORNING SHOW (BBC Radio 5 Live) on 18 July, together with BBC RADIO BRISTOL and BBC RADIO LEICESTER. On Saturday 19 July he was on LOOSE ENDS (BBC Radio 4) on 23 July BBC BREAKFAST NEWS (BBC 1),27 July BREAKFAST WITH FROST (BBC 1) and their were lots of previews for theBBC programme. We had a great launch party on 8 July with numerous diary stories. Simon has done a number of excellent events and sti
About the Author
Simon Sebag Montefiore read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy. His books are published in over forty languages. CATHERINE THE GREAT AND POTEMKIN was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won the History Book of the Year Prize, British Book Awards. YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award (UK), the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (USA), Le Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique (France) and the Kreisky Prize for Political Literature (Austria). JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY won the Jewish Book of the Year Prize (USA). He is also the author of two acclaimed novels, SASHENKA and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER. Dr Montefiore's next major history book will be THE ROMANOVS: RISE AND FALL, 1613-1917. He has presented BBC television series on the Holy Cities of Jerusalem, Rome and Istanbul. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor at Buckingham University, he lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children. Visit his website for more information www.simonsebagmontefiore.com, join on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Simon-Sebag-Montefiore and follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/simonmontefiore.
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
I was happy when he was dead
By Seth
First of all, the lack of information Americans are given about world history is damn-near criminal and it frustrates me when I read books like this or "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" or see the Argentinian film "The Official Story" and realize all the horrible stuff that goes on around the world without it even appearing on the pages of American newspapers or taught to kids in school.
It goes without saying that Stalin is a loathed historical figure who is most often brought up when people are trying to decide who was the cruelest dictator who ever lived. What is not said, at least by anyone I've ever heard talk about, is the extent and viciousness of this man's actions on his own people as well as those who were in his inner circle. I think we in the US focus more on Hitler because his reign was so brief and his targets for extermination were so well-defined whereas a single film or even mini-series about Stalin would barely even scratch the surface of all the pogroms, arrests, food shortages and all-out wars against those in and around Russia this man carried out. There comes a point when reading this book that the torture, murder and starvation of so many hundreds of thousands of people is almost too much to be believed and certainly too much to be digested as you read it. It's almost like reading a comic book where you know that it's impossible to turn green and morph into a giant musclebound superhero but there you see it drawn on the page. This is how massive Stalin's eradication of his populace could be. To say "Go to the Ukraine and kill all the Jews" is horrible and clearly based antisemitism that had been bubbling at the surface for thousands of years leading up to that point in the early 20th century; the case here with Stalin and his cronies was that they would just send a number of people to be arrested, killed and deported and the different regions could take in anyone they liked as long as they filled their quota. It was entirely nonsensical and it is difficult to absorb as a historical fact. In addition to this, Stalin is still revered in many places around Russia as well as individuals despite having committed such atrocities.
The book left with me with the gnawing question of whether Stalin was a genocidal monster because he was born that way or because the system that surrounded him would have demanded it of anyone that had been in his place. It's impossible to go back in time and make Molotov, Trotsky or Zinoviev in the place of Secretary General and see how that would have played out so I suppose we will never know. I do worry that given a sufficient national crisis in the US that we would give someone powers like those Stalin had and that that person would then carry out a war on his own people like the one that went on for decades under his rule. That's the kind of thing to keep you up at night and makes you willing to listen to politicians like Ron Paul whose only interest is keeping the government out of any facet of your daily life. This is jarring to me because I'm a lifelong liberal democrat that has always felt that a little more government intervention in our lives might be to everyone's benefit. I suppose that it all has to do with the emotions and economic situation of the people that are governed as well as the goodwill of leaders to not always take the bait and stoke our greatest fears in order to gain power over their communities.
I hope that eventually this book or books like it make their way into the American history curriculum if only to give us a taste of what can happen when the leadership and patriotism are no longer questioned and we give over our decision-making to a small coterie of sheltered bureaucrats.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating life of a monster
By Micheline Beauchemin
The excuses that all the excesses and mass murders of Stalin's era were caused by his henchmen are exposed. Not only Stalin knew about it, he personally initiated them and pursued them relentlessly. The Russians won WWII not so much because of him but despite his blunders and the severe purges he conducted in his army. He finally let his generals manage but then he was jealous of their successes. The book painstakingly revealed in minute details the crooked personality of this egomaniac, and how he destroyed practically everyone near him. How absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one was safe. This book suffers of focusing too much on the persons and not enough on events, as many books by this author. A lesson in history: it has happened and can happen again.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
THE REAL WORLD MONSTER
By Barry Colman
This book will rip the scales off the eyes off anyone who still naively believes communism/socialism will create a better world for everyone. The extent of Stalin's cruelty is difficult to imagine today. Sadly we have learned little. Russia even now is in the grip of another budding monster.Simon Montefiore takes the reader step by step down the path of well-intentioned revolutionary communists whose measures to ensure obedience to Lenin's Master Plan become more bizarre and inhuman as their exasperation to achieve the impossible implodes. Their madness and the mass starvation created by their ill-fated ideology is chilling. Russia is on its inexorable slide back to this madness. Montefiore's book should be compulsory reading for young idealists searching for a way to overcome the world's problems of inequality. They will learn there are sound reasons to trust democracy and free markets.
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