Leo T. reviewed on + 1775 more book reviews
A brilliant effort in research is here published, written in a readable style. Bringing his lifetime of study, the author took advantage of the fall of the Communist Party and the break up of the USSR. Dr. Montefiore visited archives in former SSRs and was guided by local scholars (see the Acknowledgements). He finds that testimony in the Moscow archives is significantly less authentic than some of the versions in local files that were recorded by the original interviewer of people who knew Stalin when the Romanovs ruled Russia. "Many ordinary folk were unconsciously revealing, particularly Stalin's girlfriends, who could not be open about their personal connections with the Leader even when they had borne his children. Many of these tales of childhood, exile, revolutionary battle and bank robberies are, I hope, useful finds for historians. Keke's memoir is especially telling. One sense that Stalin would have hated the memoir, which, again as far as I know, was not copied to Moscow and has not been published in Russian or English. I gues that Stalin was never infomred that it had been set down. But there is also a wealth of other materials that tell as much about young Stalin."
Unusual information is shared, such as "...a cook who had contrived, in an astonishing culinary career hidden in the catering shadows of the NKVD universe, to serve not only Rasputin in his early days, but also Lenin and Stalin: this world-historical chef was the grandfather of President Vladimir Putin."
Uncommon photos, footnotes, bibliography, maps, and an excellent index.
Unusual information is shared, such as "...a cook who had contrived, in an astonishing culinary career hidden in the catering shadows of the NKVD universe, to serve not only Rasputin in his early days, but also Lenin and Stalin: this world-historical chef was the grandfather of President Vladimir Putin."
Uncommon photos, footnotes, bibliography, maps, and an excellent index.
