Stalin

This book provides a chilling account of how Stalin came to power and stayed there.

The horror experienced by the wider population during this period stays mainly in the background. Instead, the focus is on the inner workings of Stalin’s regime, how its leaders and their families lived, how they plotted against each other, and how Stalin liquidated enemies, friends, ministers, enemies or their families to ensure he kept his grip on the Soviet Union.

This book made a particularly powerful impression on me, given the activities of the current Russian leadership, and left me wondering to what extent the… show more.

Sebag Montefiore was the first western historian to really take advantage of the opening of Russian – and Georgian – archival sources on Stalin and his career. Court of the Red Tsar offers a precious glimpse into Stalin’s inner circle and the way the USSR was governed in the 1930s and 1940s. Although gossipy at times, and written in a popular style some professional historians resent, the book is deeply researched and a treasure trove of information which is hard to find elsewhere.