Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar - Couverture rigide

Sebag Montefiore, Simon

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1842127268 ISBN 13 : 9781842127261

Editeur : W&N, 2003

Synopsis

The thrilling biography of Stalin - an international bestseller

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a prizewinning historian whose bestselling books have been published in over forty-five 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 at the British Book Awards; YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award, LA Times Biography Prize and Le Grand Prix de Biographie; JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY was a number one bestseller. Montefiore is also the author of the acclaimed novels SASHENKA, ONE NIGHT IN WINTER and RED SKY AT NOON. He read history at Cambridge University where he received his PhD, and now lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children.
www.simonsebagmontefiore.com
@simonmontefiore
www.facebook.com/pages/Simon-Sebag-Montefiore

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

'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 book rests on an extraordinary feat of digging up letters and memoirs from the archives of members of Stalin's entourage and their families. Montefiore has also travelled around Russia to trace many surviving witnesses to the scenes he describes. 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 to the end of his life. This is a fundamental theme and it is one of Montefiore's merits that he handles it with excitement and cogency.' Robert Service, PRINCE OF PRINCES: THE LIFE OF POTEMKIN 'Fascinating¿this highly ambitious biography has succeeded triumphantly.' Antony Beevor, Sunday Times 'If you want a good racy historical read, Prince of Princes certainly provides it! Book of the Year.' Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph 'The best new book I've read this year and indeed for several years. Impeccably researched, beautifully written, it takes us at an unslackening pace through the colourful life of one of the most legendary Russians - war hero, politician, visionary and lover.

À propos de la deuxième de couverture

'Simon Sebag Montefiore has pulled it off. His book succeeds in giving us an intimate picture of daily life in the Kremlin under Stalin. A gripping account.' Robert Service Fifty years after his death, Stalin remains one of the creators of our world. The scale of his crimes has made him, along with Hitler, the very personification of evil. Yet while we know much about Hitler, Stalin and his regime remain mysterious. Now, in this enthralling history of Stalin's imperial court, the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous brutality are brought blazingly to life. Who was the boy from Georgia who rose to rule the Empire of the Tsars? Who were his Himmler, Goring, Goebbels? How did these grandees rule? How did the 'top ten' families live? Exploring every aspect of this supreme politician, from his doomed marriage and mistresses, and his obsession with film, music and literature, to his identification with the Tsars, Simon Sebag Montefiore unveils a less enigmatic, more intimate Stalin, no less brutal but more human, and always astonishing. Stalin organised the deadly but informal game of power amongst his courtiers at dinners, dances, and singsongs at Black Sea villas and Kremlin apartments: a secret, but strangely cosy world with a dynamic, colourful cast of killers, fanatics, degenerates and adventurers. From the murderous bisexual dwarf Yezhov to the depraved but gifted Beria, each had their role: during the Second World War, Stalin played the statesman with Churchill and Roosevelt aided by Molotov while, with Marshal Zhukov, he became the triumphant warlord. They lived on ice, killing others to stay alive, sleeping with pistols under their pillows; their wives murdered on Stalin's whim, their children living by a code of lies. Yet they kept their quasi-religious faith in the Bolshevism that justified so much death. Based on a wealth of new materials from Stalin's archives, freshly opened in 2000, interviews with witnesses and massive research from Moscow to the Black Sea, this is a sensitive but damning portrait of the Genghis Khan of our epoch. £25.00 in UK only Illustrated

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: W&N
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1842127268
• ISBN 13: 9781842127261
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 693
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible