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Lädt ... Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (Original 2003; 2005. Auflage)von Simon Sebag Montefiore
Werk-InformationenStalin: Am Hof des roten Zaren von Simon Sebag Montefiore (2003)
Favourite Books (1,153) Five star books (838) Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Hard to put down this history of the Stalin years. This book is well written and very interesting. ( ) At first I had some qualms with this book, but after the first 100 pages or so, I became engrossed that I dismissed my earlier criticisms as nitpicking and embraced this wonderful book. Sebag Montefiore has a way with words so that even if the narrative gets bogged down in a dizzying sea of convoluted intrigue and overlarge cast, it still keeps me avidly turning the page. His wicked sense of humor and often bombastic diction had me laughing out loud many times -- an amazing accomplishment considering how much I loathed basically every adult character in Stalin's "court." If you are even remotely interested in Stalin, dictators or paranoid narcissist mass murderers in general, this is the book for you. Montefiore (The Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin) is more interested in life at the top than at the bottom, so he includes hundreds of pages on Stalin's purges of top Communists, while devoting much less space to the forced collectivization of Soviet peasants that led to millions of deaths. In lively prose, he intersperses his mammoth account of Stalin's often-deadly political decisions with the personal lives of the Soviet dictator and those around him. As a result, the reader learns about sexual peccadilloes of the top Communists: Stalin's secret police chief Lavrenti Beria, for one, "craved athletic women, haunting the locker rooms of Soviet swimmers and basketball players." Stalin's own escapades after the death of his wife are also noted. There's also much detail about the food at parties and other meetings of Stalin's henchmen. The effect is paradoxical: Stalin and his cronies are humanized at the same time as their cruel misdeeds are recounted. Montefiore offers little help in answering some of the unsettled questions surrounding Stalin: how involved was he in the 1934 murder of rising official Sergei Kirov, for example. He also seems to leave open the question of Stalin's paranoia: he argues that the Georgian-born ruler was a charming man who used his people skills to get whatever he wanted. Montefiore mainly skirts the paranoia issue, noting that only after WWII, when Stalin launched his anti-Semitic campaigns, did he "become a vicious and obsessional anti-Semite." There are many Stalin biographies out there, but this fascinating work distinguishes itself by its extensive use of fresh archival material and its focus on Stalin's ever-changing coterie. Maps and 24 pages of photos not seen by PW. keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zur ReiheStalin (1) AuszeichnungenBemerkenswerte Listen
Literaturhinweise zu diesem Werk aus externen Quellen. Wikipedia auf Englisch (31)Mörderische Intrigen, geheime Bündnisse und unablässige Rivalitäten bestimmten das Leben hinter den Kremlmauern. Aber man feierte auch, spielte mit den Kindern und fuhr gemeinsam in die Sommerfrische ans Schwarze Meer. Stalins eisige Macht im Kreml wäre ohne seinen "Hofstaat" nicht möglich gewesen. Unveröffentlichte Briefe, u.a. von seiner zweiten Frau Nadja, geheime Tagebücher, Notizen und Protokolle von Ministern und Beratern wie Molotow oder Beria erzählen uns in Simon Sebag Montefiores Bestseller auf höchst anschauliche Weise den Alltag am Hof des Roten Zaren. (Verlagstext). Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)947History and Geography Europe Russia and eastern Europe [and formerly Finland]Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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