Customer Reviews:
Were they human beings?.......2007-04-10
This book has become a classic and justifiably so. It succeeds in drawing a chronological, sociological and psychological comparison between the two most inhuman dictators in recent history. Some pictures are as revealing as Bullock's brilliant text: the school class picture showing both Hitler and Stalin in the same defying position at the same age, some 10 years apart, is ominous and already frightening.
The comparison between the ultimate, sly and ruthless burocrat and the violent, seductive and emotional politician, both deceitful, both obsessed with power and both verging on insanity, ultimately leading the same deadly and disastrous policies, is a brilliant piece of narrative history.
This is definitely a reference book, a landmark.
UNDERSTANDING HISTORY.......2007-03-09
THIS BOOK BY ALLAN BULLOCK IS AN AMAZINGLY HYPNOTIC WORK OF ART THAT DESCRIBES TWO OF THE 20TH CENTURY'S MOST INFAMOUS MONSTERS TO HAVE SURFACED UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THESE INDIVIDUALS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE; INCLUDING FOREIGNERS AND FROM THE SAME RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. UNDERSTANDING THESE EVENTS LEAD INDIVIDUALS TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE CAN BE MORE MASS ATROCITIES, MORE DEATH AND MUCH MORE SUFFERING LIKE PREVIOUS INSTANCES. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR SOCIETY TO UNITE IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT THESE SCENARIOS DO NOT REOCCUR BECAUSE THE EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR DURING THESE TIMES WOULD INDEED, BE CATASTROPHIC.
Two of a kind.......2006-02-25
Bullock takes on the daunting task of writing a dual biography on the two most notorious men in the Twentieth Century. He is able to provide a well written in-depth look at both Hitler and Stalin while showing the numerous parallels in their lives. Drawing on several first hand accounts, Bullock shows how each rose to power and ultimate destruction. The author shows little bias towards or against his subjects which is difficult considering the disdain his subjects have garnered. Hitler and Stalin is a stand alone epic that educates and entertains. Well worth the 1100 plus pages.
PARALLEL MONSTERS.......2006-01-10
This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the lives of these 20th Century Monsters. I was particularly keen on learning about their worldviews and how they were shaped by historic events. For the most part Bullock does an excellent job here, jumping back between the two evil minds as they manuevered through European politics. The possibility that the two could have brushed shoulders in Vienna in 1913 is especially chilling.
Sadly, though the book falls apart some during the crucial war years! Bullock abandons comparitive analyses here, and gives us a traditional WWII history, including little the history reader won't already know. He should have concentrated on the dictators themselves, and how they saw the conflict. Instead we get a textbook account of the European conflict. Still a fairly good job overall.
Excellent.......2005-01-09
This dual biography is excellent. Bullock is an excellent writer with an uncluttered style and the content of this book reflects Bullock's considered judgements based on a careful reading of a large volume of scholarship. The balance between the narratives of Hitler's and Stalin's lives, explanations of the relevant contemporary history, and efforts at psychological insight is excellent. While a very thick book, it is a gripping read.
Bullock shows very well the distinct courses of Hitler's and Stalin's lives, a function both of their very different circumstances and personalities. Hitler rose to power in a partially democratized society, his success based on charismatic leadership, demagogic mass politics, and shrewd exploitation of the political weaknesses of his opponents. Once in power, he delegated power to trusted subordinates and presided over an anarchic state composed of competing power centers jockeying for his approval. Stalin, on the other hand, was a consummate bureaucrat and backroom politician. A tireless worker and master political infighter, he largely constructed the state apparatus that was the instrument of his power. His serial purges had the effect of elimnating any potential rival seats of power.
The major question, of course, is why produce a combined biography instead of 2 separate books? It is true that Hitler's and Stalin's lives intersected in very important ways but these issues could easily have been handled in separate books. The advantage of Bullock's approach is that it demonstrates, both implicitly and explicitly, the convergence of the Nazi and Stalinist states. Both were based on personal rule, crude but powerful ideological constructs that held the loyalty of the leaders and numerous followers, ruthless repression, and both states produced results that garned significant popular support. Both were constructed by monsters with considerable insight into human nature but no real sympathy for their fellow men. Both leaders were incredible egoists. Bullock uses the term narcissism in its clinical sense to describe both Hitler and Stalin, who saw the states they led as extensions of themselves. Not surprisingly then, in the depth and organization of repression and many other features, the Nazi and Stalinist states had major similarities. These basic patterns can be seen in many tyrannical states throughout human history and are independent of ideology.
Book Description
This widely acclaimed biography provides a vivid and riveting account of Stalin and his courtiers—killers, fanatics, women, and children—during the terrifying decades of his supreme power. In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research and narrative ?lan, Simon Sebag Montefiore gives us the everyday details of a monstrous life.
We see Stalin playing his deadly game of power and paranoia at debauched dinners at Black Sea villas and in the apartments of the Kremlin. We witness first-hand how the dictator and his magnates carried out the Great Terror and the war against the Nazis, and how their families lived in this secret world of fear, betrayal, murder, and sexual degeneracy. Montefiore gives an unprecedented understanding of Stalin’s dictatorship, and a Stalin as human and complicated as he is brutal.
Customer Reviews:
Deep Inside Stalinism.......2007-10-14
Montefiore's creativity in writing this epic-like non-fiction novel is astonishing. Not only does he enlighten us about how Stalin's life looked from the inside (away from all the public idolization - or later on damnation), but he does it in a way that makes it look like a novel. Even though the events are tragic since they are a true story, it's written as a thriller, displaying a giant phase in the twentieth century in a way never shown before. Unlike many historians, Montefiore's book actually has the distinction of giving all the views available objectively and letting the reader judge accordingly.
This book, however, is exactly what it was written for: showing Stalin's court. You'll not find here any historical analysis outside Stalin's court, nor will you find a lot of information about WW II (even though it's covered in great detail).
Bringing Stalin's Russia To Life.......2007-08-23
Montefiore brings to light an astounding amount of new information from various archives and recent interviews and combines this with a very humorous readable style. Highly recommend his "Young Stalin" as well!
Makes Stalin as human as an inhuman can Be.......2007-07-25
This is a fascinating look at Stalin from the perpective of those around him. Giving a diffrent view than any other book so far. Remember this is the man who said "One death is a tradgedy, a million dealths is a statistic."
Stalin the Book Editor.......2007-06-30
What an utterly fascinating portrait the author draws of this monster. I used to think Hitler was interesting, but this blood-thirsty maniac is the one. Talk about fascinating fascism. Stalin, we are told by our communist friends, was the illiterate boob who stole the revolution from the bright and interesting Trotsky and Lenin. Here he is shown to have been every bit as bright as any other mass killers, but in this biography we are shown stages of rage, as it were, whereby Stalin developed finally into the yellow-eyed, paranoid fanatic left-wing academics love to defend. What is so interesting is his intellectual pretensions. His close involvement with authors and composers is fascinating, especially when one considers that his displeasure meant certain death for the discredited. Now there's an editorial policy! At the same time one has to take seriously the author's persuasive claim that it was Stalin's wife's suicide that finally brought an end to any restraint to the Kremlin's killing machine. One is even touched by the descriptions of the informality of the pre-suicide Kremlin, with an old-fashioned style of communal living. They had all lived like wolves in a pack for a while, and then like jackels.
Absolute power. Absolute paranoia. Absolute corruption........2007-03-30
Montefiore's impressing book presents the story about Joseph Stalin and all his subordinates in the circles of Soviet power between 1932 and Stalin's death in 1953. It is a story of power, red, ruthless, total power.
Montefiore has gone to a wide range of new sources. He has searched far in the newly opened KGB-archives in Russia, and interviewed some of the men in power, and a lot of their descendants, first class observers during two decades of terror and tyrrany.
Stalin managed to stay in the top position for so long by distributing the power between his cronies. He frequently moved them around, both positionally and geographically. Stalin constantly collected "evidence" of contra-revolutionary activity by every member of the Politburo, of the Central Committee, in the Army Command and in the secret police. After a few years in power, most of the magnates ended up accused of sabotage against bolshevism, found guilty (pleading guilty after torture, often by their earlier comrades), and killed. This hindered a build-up of an oppositional coalition.
The role of chief killer was initially held by Yagoda, who was killed by his successor Nikolai Yezhov, killed by his successor Berija. Berija outlived Stalin, but was on the verge of being killed himself. Instead, Berija was executed at the orders of Khrushchev shortly after Stalin's own, natural, death.
According to Montefiore, Stalin started to believe all the accusations that was made up. When he died, he was busy planning a purge against doctors and jews.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. May Stalinism rest, but not in peace. Thank capitalism and liberalism for this excellent book.
Book Description
In 1945, Josef Stalin, who had never been able to shake off the nightmare of Adolf Hitler, refused to believe that the dictator had committed suicide. He ordered his secret police, the NKVD, to explore Hitler's private life, and to clarify the circumstances of his death. For months the NKVD interrogated Hitler's two closest assistants, Otto Guensche and Heinz Linge. The resulting first-hand narrative of a decade of service in Hitler's headquarters was presented to Stalin in a limited edition of one, and for over fifty years was hidden in a Russian archive. Never before published in its entirety, it is "[a] notable historical document" (Wall Street Journal) that "gives an absorbing, truly disturbing account of Hitler and his demonic court" (PublishersWeekly)
Customer Reviews:
Hitler's Aggression, Genocidal Actions against Slavs, and Details of His Doom.......2007-05-03
This dossier is the result of the interrogation, by the Soviet NKVD, of two SS officials who knew Hitler very well--Heinz Linge and Otto Gunsche. It offers a comprehensive history of WWII, with much attention devoted to the closing stages of the European war on the eastern front. There is discussion of the Hitlerjugend sacrificed against the Soviets, the suicides of Goebbels and his family, and the self-destruction of the Fuhrer and burning of his body. (Hitler feared that the Soviets would turn him or his body into a public spectacle). The editors use numerous footnotes that clarify and correct the issues raised by the NKVD. The Editors' Afterword section provides extensive commentary, and the Notes include comprehensive biographical information on many Nazis (including dates of birth and death, and relevant postwar activities).
This dossier begins with a short, prewar history of Nazism: "The official version of the story was that Rohm had been executed for homosexuality, but Hitler concealed from the German people the fact that homosexuality was widely practiced and tolerated in the higher echelons of the National Socialist Party and the Hitler Youth." (p. 6).
Hitler is quoted, on April 17, 1943, of saying that Jews must either be annihilated of thrown into a concentration camp (p. 114). If correct, this itself suggests that, even at this late date, Hitler wasn't irrevocably committed to the extermination of every possible Jew within his reach. Interestingly, Hitler had a purely utilitarian view of Slavs that matched that of his view of Jews, as illustrated by the Nazis' use of both Slavic and Jewish forced laborers. Consider the former: "Filled with loathing Hitler remarked, `It is quite right to make Slavs do this, these robots! Otherwise they would have no right to their share of the sun!'" (p. 102).
The following was Hitler's reaction to Britain's declaration of war against Germany following the Nazi attack on Poland: "It is disgraceful to present Czechs and Poles as sovereign states when this rabble is not a jot better than the Sudanese or the Indians..." (pp. 47-48). At the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Germans fought under the slogan: "Bash the Russians' brains in...We need the Russian expanses without Russians!" (p. 76).
The editors cite an eventual figure of 11.27 million Soviet military deaths, but add: "On the other hand, it is mentioned only in a few places that the campaign against the Soviet Union was also a racially motivated war of annihilation, which claimed the lives of 18.4 million civilians. This war of annihilation was carried out above all by the SS, but a politically-indoctrinated Wehrmacht played its part." (p. 300). Combining these figures with others (e. g., the 2-3 million murdered Polish gentiles), it is obvious that the Germans' genocide of Slavs was greater than that of Jews (5-6 million). Considering this metric, the reader realizes that Jews and Slavs were indeed unequal victims--with Slavs the greater victims.
Some proponents of Holocaust uniqueness have claimed that the Nazis' disrespect and exploitation of the dead, as exemplified by the removal of tooth fillings, was done only to Jews. We learn instead that it was also done to Slavs--including living ones. Blaschke, Hitler's personal dentist, obtained crowns, bridges, and gold teeth that had been extracted from Soviet POWs (pp. 164-165).
Certain revisionists (e. g., Alfred Maurice de Zayas) have repeated the canard that the Soviets and Poles killed over 2 million German civilians during the final offensives and early postwar period. However heavy the loss of German civilian life actually was, it was clearly the fault of the Germans, not the Russians or Poles: "When the German troops fled in chaos, the population panicked and ran with their soldiers. A mass migration towards the German heartlands began. The roads and paths of East Prussia were thick with old men, women and children who had turned and run, only to become jammed in the numerous tank traps that offered only a torturously narrow path. Many--the children in particular--froze to death in the intense cold." (p. 180).
The Churchill-Roosevelt betrayal of Poland to the Soviet Union, culminating at Yalta, is often rationalized by the specter of a German-Soviet separate peace. However, Stalin ALSO feared a separate peace--a German-western one. For example, the Battle of the Bulge was framed as an attempt by the Germans to so bloody and dishearten the western Allies that they would unilaterally sue for peace (p. 170).
Somewhat interesting but hardly a "must-read".......2007-04-16
"The Hitler Book", a posthumous biography of Hitler personally prepared for Stalin, is of interest only as a historical curiosity and for the insight it provides into the strange political dynamics of postwar Stalinist Russia. Interestingly enough, and contrary to press reports and the claims of the researchers in question, this book was not recently "discovered" by a couple of German scholars digging around the Russian archives. David Irving used this dossier in the 1960s when writing his magnificent "Hitler's War", which is_the_book I would recommend for those interested in a life of Hitler, particularly his years in power.
Based on the interrogations of Otto Guensche and Heinz Linge (Hitler's SS adjutant and manservant respectively), this book covers most of the major events of Hitler's life more or less accurately, but should not be taken as an authoritative work of history. It's a gossipy, biographical caricature based on both public knowledge and the torture-induced testimonies of a butler and an aide. That's not to say that Guensche's and Linge's testimony shouldn't be trusted, but two low-level witnesses do not a biography make and, in any case, their information should be compared with what they freely told Western authors, like David Irving and James O'Donnell, after their decade in Soviet captivity. This book reveals no new information, and is also marred by the fact that it shamelessly panders to the prejudices and paranoia of its very important audience of one: Josef Stalin. It obviously makes no mention of the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact and subsequent Soviet expansion into Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states, and certainly doesn't deal with Soviet agressive intentions toward Germany or the reasons for the disasters of 1941. Its portrait of Hitler sticks to the wartime propaganda line, showing him as a feral, rug-chewing, cowardly maniac. And while the Soviet Union did indeed bear the brunt of the fighting against Nazi Germany, this book seriously downplays the Anglo-American contribution, deprecates the bravery and effectiveness of their troops and even accuses the Western Allies of trying to negotiate a separate peace with Hitler and of not bombing armaments factories whose weapons they knew would be used exclusively against the Soviets. It's an interesting look into the dark maze of Stalinist psychology, but is not the source to consult for a legitimate Hitler biography.
The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides.......2007-04-16
Clearly one of the most informative books written about the life of Adolf Hitler. The account of the last days in the Fuhrer bunker is not only spellbinding, but probably the most accurate. A "must read" for the WW2 history enthusiast.
A Fascinating Read.......2007-04-11
I couldn't put this book down and was disappointed when I finished it!It's mandatory reading for all WW2 buffs as the insight it provides into the personal lives of Hitler and other top Nazis in the Third Reich is invaluable. I found it riveting as it described Hitler's personal foibles,his descent into paranoia and detachment from reality while his lackeys around him continued to pander to his gigantic ego and self-delusion.It depicts a world gone mad and rampant evil. Hitler's callous diregard for the lives of his soldiers and those of German civilians caught up in the horror that was 1945 Berlin stuns the imagination. Equally disturbing is Stalin's prurient fascination with his Fascist counterpart.
This is a superb book and of great value to the keen historian who wants more than just facts and dates.
"Must Read" Book.......2007-03-21
This is a "must read" book on the subject of Hitler and the last days in Berlin. It is a jewel from the Soviet archives.
Having said that, great caution must be used in accepting what is written in the book as the truth. Only by comparison with other accounts can the facts be sifted out from the propaganda. Read all the front and back material as well to get a better understanding of what is in this report.
The report on which the book is based was written for Stalin's consumption and therefore there are distinct biases and distortions in what information is reported and how it is presented. It is almost comical in places how the Soviet writers attempted to twist things. Almost comical - but not actually, because the intended audience of this book, Stalin was as diabolical and hideous, if not more, than the subject of the report.
The fact that it is a Soviet report is not really a flaw since it gives us insight into the Soviet mind and their use of history to indoctrinate rather than enlighten.
The true flaw in the book is that the English translation has abridged the German editor's notes and inserted additional footnotes that are often just plain wrong. The English translator also lacks any understanding of WW2 German military terminology, for example, translating "Minenwerfer" as "mine thrower" instead of "mortar". Very childish, but fortunately there are not too many of these screwups.
I still give it 5 stars because it is a priceless document. I might suggest getting the German edition for better supporting material.
Book Description
Overthrowing the conventional image of Stalin as an uneducated political administrator inexplicably transformed into a pathological killer, Robert Service reveals a more complex and fascinating story behind this notorious twentieth-century figure. Drawing on unexplored archives and personal testimonies gathered from across Russia and Georgia, this is the first full-scale biography of the Soviet dictator in twenty years.
Service describes in unprecedented detail the first half of Stalin's life--his childhood in Georgia as the son of a violent, drunkard father and a devoted mother; his education and religious training; and his political activity as a young revolutionary. No mere messenger for Lenin, Stalin was a prominent activist long before the Russian Revolution. Equally compelling is the depiction of Stalin as Soviet leader. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. And his conviction that enemies surrounded him was not entirely unfounded.
Stalin was not just a vengeful dictator but also a man fascinated by ideas and a voracious reader of Marxist doctrine and Russian and Georgian literature as well as an internationalist committed to seeing Russia assume a powerful role on the world stage. In examining the multidimensional legacy of Stalin, Service helps explain why later would-be reformers--such as Khrushchev and Gorbachev--found the Stalinist legacy surprisingly hard to dislodge.
Rather than diminishing the horrors of Stalinism, this is an account all the more disturbing for presenting a believable human portrait. Service's lifetime engagement with Soviet Russia has resulted in the most comprehensive and compelling portrayal of Stalin to date.
Customer Reviews:
Helpful, but disappointing.......2007-07-31
While I sense as a non-expert that this biography has freed us from some of the stereotypes about Stalin which clouded the views of him in the past, probably exactly because Stalin's hold on power was defined by his ability to operate in the shadows before he emerged on center stage, and even then managed to keep a lot of the world guessing about what exactly his role was. Deniability figured big time in his history. The book nevertheless falls short. The style is somewhat plodding, and there is an implicit assumption that we are experts on Soviet history, and geography, and no aids are on offer in that regard. So in being NOT an expert on Soviet history, I find myself after reading this book that I need to read a history of the Soviet Union and probably of Russia, in order to provide me with the context which this book sorely lacks.
Stalin is Still A Mystery.......2007-06-11
Service has written a well-researched history of Stalin's life here. It is very thorough and complete and yet it is still quite readable. Unfortunately though, Stalin still remains the cipher that he always has been. No new insight into his lust for power emerges from the six hundred plus pages of text.
Perhaps there is no answer; maybe Stalin was just the uber-sociopathic dictator he appears to be and that he survived and flourished in the dog-eat-dog milieu of revolutionary era Russia because he was very lucky and the best at what he did.
Dictators in the modern era have all to some extent (consciously or not) modeled themselves after Stalin. Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein come to mind. It is said that Saddam had a room in his personal library composed of all the major biographies written about Stalin in Arabic translation, and that he read every one.
I recommend this book though as an excellent work of scholarship and a most comprehensive survey of Joseph Stalin's life and times
Thorough perhaps but redundant.......2006-10-11
Contrary to what some other reviewers have stated, I do not believe Service goes out of his way to humanize Stalin. However, Service glosses over huge and momentous events, such as the Great Terror. We have all heard of the monstrous acts committed by Stalin but none of the details are given, other than numbers and names. It seems inconceiveable that a 600 plus page book would be superficial and lacking specificity but it does. One gets the feeling Service felt previous biographers had already provided the dirty details and therefore left them out. He also does not tell Stalin's story in any chronological manner. He jumps around endlessly. I cannot recommend this book.
Very well then --- a sane and accomplished monster.......2006-07-28
Many people may view Stalin as a blood-thirsty killer but the author's view is that Stalin "..was long practised in the art of solving public problems by means of the physical liquidation of those who embodied them." (page 471). Physical liquidation sounds so much better than murder, slaughter or killing. It is a much more civilized way to solve public problems.
Stalin as Communist Emperor.......2006-04-15
A very readable biography of Stalin that describes his entire life, from his beginnings in Georgia to the top of the Soviet Union. His relationship to Lenin and other members of the Bolshevik clique and his rise to power are all chronicled.
There is a letter from Tito to Stalin that was found in Stalin's desk drawer shortly after he died. Tito, in this letter, is out-dueling Stalin in threatening assassination attempts. It encapsulates the gangster tactics of the entire communist regime. Service points out that there were no innocents in the rise to power after the October revolution. Stalin learnt well from his teacher Lenin. Bolshevism may have been based on the books of Marx and Engels, but its practice was raw power and Stalin wielded this for over thirty years.
Sometimes in this work there seems to be too much focus around Stalin and not enough history of the outside forces - such as the effects of famine during the 1930's.
Nevertheless we are left with the portrait of a ruthless individual who amassed power for its' own sake. Stalin accrued very little personal wealth during his reign - for example he only wore good clothes during his World War II meetings when the Allied powers came to visit.
It is also interesting to note that it is only during World War II that Stalin had any prolonged and direct contact with the outside world. At the end of the war Stalin effectively shut the door on the West - he met with the leaders of China and his East European satellites, but this was more like the bully dealing with his victims in the schoolyard.
Service does give Stalin credit for pushing the Soviet Union into the twentieth century - industrially and educationally. Without this the Soviet Union would not have been able to cope with the German onslaught in 1941.
But there was a heavy price to pay for all this- the Soviet Union was cut-off culturally from the rest of mankind and its' ideological dogmatic path collapsed in the 1990's. It was Stalin that led his country into this one-way street from which it was never able to veer away from and adjust to a different lifestyle.
Book Description
“Music illuminates a person and provides him with his last hope; even Stalin, a butcher, knew that.” So said the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, whose first compositions in the 1920s identified him as an avant-garde wunderkind. But that same singularity became a liability a decade later under the totalitarian rule of Stalin, with his unpredictable grounds for the persecution of artists. Solomon Volkov—who cowrote Shostakovich’s controversial 1979 memoir, Testimony—describes how this lethal uncertainty affected the composer’s life and work.
Volkov, an authority on Soviet Russian culture, shows us the “holy fool” in Shostakovich: the truth speaker who dared to challenge the supreme powers. We see how Shostakovich struggled to remain faithful to himself in his music and how Stalin fueled that struggle: one minute banning his work, the next encouraging it. We see how some of Shostakovich’s contemporaries—Mandelstam, Bulgakov, and Pasternak among them—fell victim to Stalin’s manipulations and how Shostakovich barely avoided the same fate. And we see the psychological price he paid for what some perceived as self-serving aloofness and others saw as rightfully defended individuality.
This is a revelatory account of the relationship between one of the twentieth century’s greatest composers and one of its most infamous tyrants.
Customer Reviews:
Extraordinary Is Right.......2007-07-01
Utterly fascinating tale of an extraordinary moment in history. I can't think of another place in modern times when a political leader took such an interest in the arts, albeit, for political reasons. How fascinating it is that a dictator - it isn't conceivable in a democracy - would become obsessed with the things said and done by cultural figures such as Shostakovich, Mayakovsky, and Pasternak. Stalin was a brute, but the picture drawn here of him and his relationship with the great Russian composer makes for the sort of suspense one associates with murder-mysteries. The entire Soviet aesthetic is on display here, an odd and finally ruthlessly destructive dance between art and politics. Stalin comes over as a ghoulish monster, while Shostokovich is depicted as wholly sympathetic. Artistically it is as rich a milieu as Elizabethan England or Periclean Athens. The Kremlin comes over as a house of horrors on the order of Idi Amin's slaughter house. The book is beautifully written, well-researched, and told from an artist's point of view, not an academic political scientist's. No other regime in the 20th century is as horrifying; no artists were ever as creative and brave.
The long awaited supplement to "Testimony".......2005-04-28
When Dmitri Shostakovich's memoirs appeared in print under the title "Testimony" its compiler, Solomon Volkov, was widely excoriated and the authenticity of the text challenged. As a composer, being intimately familiar with how composers think and express themselves, the book rang true to me through and through. Some of the attempts to debunk it seemed to me then calculated to challenge every statement. Some things, however, can not be faked - and, as Shostakovich himself often said, "music illuminates a man through and through," a composer's way of expressing himself is instantly recognizable to another composer. There are simply far too many clues buried in the text - too many buzz words and conceptual descriptions of the type typical of the composer's perception of things.
Having said that, then, Volkov's new text provides much of the historical filler that the earlier text could not purely by virtue of its purpose and content. By illustrating, even if somewhat broadly, the cultural and political issues during Stalin's reign, much of what Volkov reported as having been said by Shostakovich is further substantiated. It is fascinating reading - but not, as others have pointed out, for those without at least a fundamental understanding of Russian history.
Those who choose, even at this late date, to challenge Volkov's original text will have more to carp about here. The truth about Shostakovich's music has long since escaped the myth makers and political hacks and into the open arena of ideas. The man's music speaks louder than any words, however, even his own. But for me, the two together can only have come from one person - Dmitri Shostakovich. Relying on old Soviet mythology and documentation to disprove a work that challenges that mythology is hardly reliable. And Volkov's most recent work is an easy, fascinating and ultimately confirming discourse on the background issues which, in the end, resulted in the music long since validated on its own terms.
to the heart of things.......2005-04-06
This book is as much a penetrating portrait of Stalin's Russia as it is a fierce look at surviving as an artist in Stalin's hands. Apart from the rich legacy of his music, Shostakovich is a fine example precisely because he survived. Those of us who find Volkov's 'Testimony' a harrowing, revealing book will dive into these pages with gusto and fly through to the end. Those who suspect 'Testimony' to be a fraud might not bother with this book, and that's too bad because it provides a genuine fleshing out of Stalin and his closest henchmen (Zhdanov, especially, is afforded thorough treatment), some beautiful pages on Shostakovich's inner life, and not a few engaging views of a number of other important artists who lived and worked in a crucible of terror day after day. Volkov courteously dispenses with the ridiculous "holy fool" controversy in his prologue. The author is strongest when he composes life from inside the experience of survival in Soviet Russia. It's one thing to admire Shostakovich's genius, quite another to reach the underpinnings of a man who was more a gentleman fixed on physical (and therefore emotional and artistic) survival than he was a musical prophet. At that point, we're experiencing something well beyond biography. That is Volkov's unique gift. The focus is indeed Shostakovich, but the lessons reach farther. There are some fine photographs included - pen and inks of Akhmatova and Pasternak by Annenkov, the spiky, not often seen 1933 portrait of Shostakovich by Akimov, and an unforgettable photograph of a very young Shostakovich looking directly and defiantly at the camera, in which he seems to foretell all the pain and glory to come. If you're looking for a searing rehearsal of the meaning of freedom, I suggest this book.
Artistic sufferance under a totalitarian regime.......2004-07-10
The scope of the book goes far beyond the relation between Shostakovich and Stalin; it's a dramatic view into artistic life while living in an authoritarian regime. There is an immense list of great artists who where deported, killed or psychologically terrorized in Stalins regime. Shostakovich is only one of them, and seemingly one of the lucky ones, since he outlived the dictator. But his sufferance under Stalins terror was as trying for him as it was for any other artist. I don't entirely agree with the comment that Stalin is depicted as an idiot, but he is portraited as having a very one-sided, utilitarian view on arts.The given inside in one of the most horrible regimes that ever existed, must be mind blowing for every one in the democratic world.
The book tells Shostakovich life only fragmentarilly, including discussing his major pieces. It gives real insight into his music, makes it more accessible. Even if only to enable you to understand this music better, this book is worthwile.
Shoot the piano player?.......2004-04-30
The book seems somewhat padded with "backstory" and questionable Darwinianism, e.g., Shostakovich v. Stalin as ineluctable successor to Pushkin v. Tsar Nicholas I. Or it may be that the publishers simply opted for too narrow a title, creating an expectation of a closely focused account restricted as near as possible to the marqueed characters. Volkov does not so limit himself; Stalin's grip on all the arts is explicated, music being but one of his concentrations.
The simplistic view of Stalin as ignorant thug is certainly easier to live with than the lately emerging portrait of a man of no mean intelligence, taste, and aesthetics who was nonentheless a swine of an almost inconceivable murderousness.
This picture of authoritarian absolutism over all media is well worth the read, especially when we ourselves are never short of bombastic blusterers ready to impose their situational moralities on everyone else for the sake of a few votes back home.
Volkov, happily, is no discount Freudian, and leaves it to the reader to ponder what delights--outside of the strict demands of "socialist realism"--Stalin derived from the squirming and survival techniques of those he didn't summarily dispatch.
Amazon.com
Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky has broken down the iron curtain of myth, secrecy and lies that has surrounded Stalin's life and career, painting a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined.
Book Description
From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has entirely gotten hold of: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion.
As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalin's epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalin's long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Union's Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalin's private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide.
As he did in The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class-all become, in Radzinsky's hands, as gripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might--and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history--is solved.
Customer Reviews:
Literate and dramatic bio.......2007-06-06
This is a literate and dramatic telling of Stalin's life and times from birth to death. The knowns and unknowns of Stalin are covered, as well as his colleagues (or adverseries in Stalin's case). The author's style is literary - a playwright by vocation - as if writing a novel. So, yes, there are the usual cliffhanger chapter endings and is suspensful to a degree - - a definite page turner overall. Also, the author is a native who lived part of his childhood during the Stalin era and his father felt the full brunt of Stalinism. So I like the touch of the personal emotion here. Is more readable and personable than the Conquest and Service bios, and covers more time than Montefiore. I heartily recommend.
Great Book.......2007-05-19
Of all the Stalin books, this is the best one by far. I strongly recommend it.
Very biased and Anti Communist Propaganda book.......2006-10-17
I m not a big fan of communism, nor of Stalin. But I cross checked the facts mentioned in this book with facts in some other books I have read on similar subject and found that author Edvard Radzinsky is strongly biased against Stalin. In the entire book he seems to give no credit for anything to Stalin nor to his leadership qualities during the course of Second World War. Dont waste your money on a propaganda book. Better to go for an unbiased account from a neutral observer, thats what Biographies are supposed to be.
Engaging.......2006-03-31
This is one of the most interesting biographies that I have ever read. It should be, as the author is also a successful Russian playwright, and he is not inexperienced at writing biographies. Combine this talent for researching and telling dramatic stories with the fact that the author had privileged access to formerly top-secret archives of the Soviet Union, and the ingredients are there for the compulsive read that it is.
Radzinsky makes it clear just how little is known about Stalin's early years. Nevertheless, he considers various testimonies and documents to offer several possibilities about the nature of each of his parents - an absent father and a poor, toiling mother. Considering similar kinds of evidence, and also painting a picture of how Georgia may have been like at the close of the 19th Century, the author also offers glimpses of a child who was always small, feisty, and yet natural as a leader.
His mother pressures him into going to a seminary school so that he may become an orthodox priest. However, this proves to be against a backdrop of various ideologies and revolutionaries, and so we can imagine the transition as Stalin goes from bright student, to atheist, and on to zealous terrorist who has no qualms about taking innocent lives for his ideals.
Stalin's rise to prominence is just as fascinating, in its own way, as Hitler's; but we don't only meet Stalin. We see a lot of Soviet history in the making, and we meet an array of colourful contemporaries along the way. The book is gripping as we read about revolutions, wars, civil wars, the rise and death of Lenin, and the rise of Stalin as he consolidates absolute power into his own hands. By now, we have already glimpsed just how un-human his heart can be, but that is only just the beginning in what is to become an all out attempt to eliminate all political rivals and all classes who may not conform to a system that promises a utopia built upon a foundation of human bones.
There is brief respite during WWII, where some power had to be given back to the generals. With this sense of relative freedom, and the victory over Nazi Germany, it seems as if for a while things will get better. However, as soon as the war is over, the time for independent thinkers is over, and it's back to purges, and then the purges of those who purged, once more.
Unfortunately, I could never really get a feel for how accurate some of the story was, as this is the first major biography on Stalin that I have read, and I have also read relatively little on Soviet history in general. Some reviewers praise this book, saying how they use it to teach their high-school students. Others attack it for being unfounded lies and propaganda. Having been a student of history for some while, I never got the sense that it was too much of the latter; but then I wouldn't be aware of some of the more technical points. Still, if like any other book it can't be assumed to be absolute fact, I continue to feel there has to be much to it that is fair.
Overall, I thought Radzinsky was clear about the fallibility of his explanations, and I always felt as if I were being allowed to draw my own conclusions. The only time that I really questioned the validity of some of his arguments was when it came to Radzinsky's interpretation of Stalin's death, and the seeming conclusion that one way or another Stalin was murdered. This was when at best it looked as if people had been slow to help him because he was not in his normal place to issue commands from the top; and at worst it looked like he may have suffered from a well-deserved dose of neglect. Neither of these possibilities would personally lead me to conclude 'murder'. Still, as I have said, I was able to reach this conclusion for myself, based on the fact that Radzinsky presented alternative evidence and that he was clear when his own conclusions were not absolute.
To sum up, this is a fascinating read; a real page-turner. The story seemed fairly balanced and accurate to me (but then I couldn't be certain). Nevertheless, it was very colourful and highly entertaining. I think it's a very recommendable book.
Solid Research Based on Russian Archives.......2006-02-02
The research done in this book is solid. I read both Russian and English stories, articles, and even books on the recently (if you can call mid nineties that) opened archived by the FSB (then KGB).
Radzinsky does little to interfere with his opinion. He is solely the messenger here, the message is what has been rumored about, spoken of, conspired around, and basically shared in millions of dining rooms, "skomeyak" while old men played dominoes.
Most of what is projected to the reader has been known for some time, especially in Russia proper. Some of the most incredible finds are not really anything knew to most Russian; mainly those that read "Suvorov" back when he first made allegations that based on the numbers, his own eyes when documents passed him, that Stalin was, indeed, planning to attack Hitler first. The difference with Radzinsky and Suvorov, is the incentive.
These finds, of course, would be, and were met with outrage. Partisans would never want to submit they sacrificed so much just for some madman's play. The maginitude of personal destruction, farms, families, culture, religion, all for what? The more documents come to light, the more truth and evidence that this was, in fact, a very real possibility.
Radzinsky does an excellent job of sifting through a lot, picking up where there was little trace, and attempting to explain, as subtle as he can, the sheer magnificance of the issue.
Book Description
Revolution on My Mind is a stunning revelation of the inner world of Stalin's Russia. We see into the minds and hearts of Soviet citizens who recorded their lives during an extraordinary period of revolutionary fervor and state terror. Writing a diary, like other creative expression, seems nearly impossible amid the fear and distrust of totalitarian rule; but as Jochen Hellbeck shows, diary-keeping was widespread, as individuals struggled to adjust to Stalin's regime.
Rather than protect themselves against totalitarianism, many men and women bent their will to its demands, by striving to merge their individual identities with the collective and by battling vestiges of the old self within. We see how Stalin's subjects, from artists to intellectuals and from students to housewives, absorbed directives while endeavoring to fulfill the mandate of the Soviet revolution--re-creation of the self as a builder of the socialist society. Thanks to a newly discovered trove of diaries, we are brought face to face with individual life stories--gripping and unforgettably poignant.
The diarists' efforts defy our liberal imaginations and our ideals of autonomy and private fulfillment. These Soviet citizens dreamed differently. They coveted a morally and aesthetically superior form of life, and were eager to inscribe themselves into the unfolding revolution. Revolution on My Mind is a brilliant exploration of the forging of the revolutionary self, a study without precedent that speaks to the evolution of the individual in mass movements of our own time.
Book Description
The Thaw Generation offers an insider's look at the Soviet dissident movement--the intellectuals who, during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras, dared to challenge an oppressive system and demand the rights guaranteed by the Soviet constitution. Fired from their jobs, hunted by the KGB, âtried,â and imprisoned, Alexeyeva and other activists including Andrei Sakharov, Yuri Orlov, Yuli Daniel, and Andrei Sinyavsky, through their dedication and their personal and professional sacrifices, focused international attention on the issue of human rights in the USSR.
Customer Reviews:
An Important Window Into the Past........2006-01-23
Alexeyeva has done a marvelous job of combining personal tales with Soviet political history in this fascinating collection of memoirs. The result is an unexpected page-turner that provides a solid overview of myriad dissident movements from the days of the Decemberists to Gorbachev's Russia.
The story follows Ludmilla Alexeyeva from her childhood, in which she believed she lived in the greatest country of all time. It is clear from the first few pages that Alexeyeva intended to invoke her private life only when it could feasibly add to the reader's comprehension of the historical events and movements being discussed. Alexeyeva the activist is openly presented, while Alexeyeva the person is shrouded in mystery. I found myself wondering if the two characters had become indistinguishable from one another.
Although the sheer number of characters mentioned in passing and centered upon is startling, many brief summaries are provided to jog the reader's memory, and the index is thorough. I found the text slightly disjointed, but not excessively so.
Overall, this is an effective introduction for novices in the study of the Soviet dissident movement from about 1956 to about 1975, and a good summary for those with expertise in that area.
Great reading.......2004-04-27
Explains the why and how of the Russian dissident movement after Stalin's death, focusing on Alexeyeva's personal involvement. It combines the beauty of Russian memoir with light political analysis--all without the awkwardness of translation, thanks to co-author Paul Goldberg's excellent prose style. A must for any amateur historian of this period/people.
Average customer rating:
|
Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring
Robert Whymant
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japan
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Former Soviet Republics & Siberia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Intelligence & Espionage
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Intelligence
| Freedom & Security
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Intelligence Agencies
| Levels of Government
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Ring
-
Intelligence Analysis: A Target-centric Approach
-
Agents of Innocence
ASIN: 1845113101
Release Date: 2007-01-09 |
Book Description
This is the true story of a remarkable man who pulled off a seemingly impossible espionage mission in Tokyo, before and during World War II. Richard Sorge, born to a Russian mother and a German father, ran a network of Japanese and Europeans under the noses of Japan's dreaded secret police. From 1933 until he was caught in late 1941, he transmitted priceless secrets to Red Army intelligence. Sorge's espionage group -- perhaps the most successful operating in this critical period - kept the Russians informed about Japanese and German intentions, and also helped influence decisions made by these governments.Sorge's biggest coup was to inform Stalin of the German attack on Russia in 1941, weeks before it occurred -- with details of troop deployments, movement of armaments and the actual date of the attack. Abandoned to his fate by Stalin, Sorge became the first European sentenced to death by a Japanese court. After a prolonged ordeal he was executed in Sugamo prison in 1944.
Average customer rating:
|
Stalin's Eagles: An Illustrated Study of the Soviet Aces of World War II and Korea (Schiffer Military History)
Hans D. Seidl
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Aviation
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Military Science
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0764304763 |
Book Description
Stalin's Eagles is the most complete and detailed book ever published on the Soviet aces. All of the great names are here: Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Rechkalov, Koldunov, Popkov and numerous others whose thrilling exploits were an inspiration to their comrades, and who handily outscored the top American and British aces. Hundreds of portraits illuminate the lives of many aces, most unknown to western readers, and the desperate struggles of these outstanding fighter pilots who in the end were to make the skies above Eastern Europe their fiefdom. The history of the Soviet fighter command in World War II began in tragedy with the slaughter of inexperienced squadrons by the triumphant Luftwaffe. Read here of their dramatic recovery and the terrible losses of the Luftwaffe at the hands of Russian elite pilots as they were winning complete supremacy in the air. In almost four years of continuous action, the Soviet air forces were credited with destroying over 43,000 enemy aircraft in aerial combat producing some 800 aces with 15 or more kills. Illustrated with over 300 photographs, many taken from the personal collections of veteran pilots, and supplemented by exhaustive statistical information this unique record represents a major research effort and will prove fascinating to all who have an interest in the history of aerial warfare. For the first time the deeds and feats of the Shturmovik aces Ð the tank hunters and assault aircraft of the Soviet Air Force Ð are recorded in detail, and an entire chapter presents the history of all Soviet fighter units. Little known in the West, Soviet pilots flew over Korea and many achieved ace status Ð all are named here with details of their careers and aerial victories. Forewords are by twice hero of the Soviet Union V.I. Popkov, himself an ace with 41 kills in World War II and three more in Korea, and GŸnther Rall, number three ace of all time with 275 aerial victories., over 470 b/w photographs, 16 color aircraft profiles, 9" x 12", appendices
Books:
- How to Be Happy All the Time
- ICE BOUND: A DOCTOR'S INCREDIBLE BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL AT THE SOUTH POLE
- . . . If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution
- Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway
- J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Two Volume Box Set)
- James Madison: (The American Presidents Series)
- Jay's Journal of Anomalies : Conjurers, Cheats, Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters, Imposters, Pretenders, Side-Show Showmen, Armless Calligraphers, Mechanical Marvels, Popular Entertainments
- John Quincy Adams: (The American Presidents Series)
- Journal of a Solitude
- Kierkegaard for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Casino Operations Management
- The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits
- How to Plan and Execute Strategy
- ESOP Workbook: The Ultimate Instrument in Succession Planning
- Modern Investment Management: An Equilibrium Approach
- The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
- Public Management Systems: Monitoring & Managing Government Performance
- Essentials of Accounting Review
- Longrun Dynamics: A General Economic and Political Theory
- Wildflowers of the Southern Appalachians: How to Photograph and Identify Them
The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia.
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
Stalin: Breaker of Nations
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
The Cold War: A History
