num_pages: 848
description: <p><P>This widely acclaimed biography provides a vivid and riveting account of Stalin and his courtiers&#8212;killers, fanatics, women, and children&#8212;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&#8217;s dictatorship, and a Stalin as human and complicated as he is brutal.</p> <h3>The New York Times</h3> <p>In <i>Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar,</i> Mr. Montefiore draws upon new archival material, unpublished memoirs and interviews with survivors of that era (including many children of Stalin's associates and underlings) to create a harrowing portrait of life in the dictator's inner circle. In doing so, he gives us an intimate look at Stalin himself and the culture of sadism, ruthlessness and dread that flourished around him, fueling a murderous regime that would leave tens of millions of people dead. &#151; <i>Michiko Kakutani</i></p>
language: en
title: Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
publisher: Vintage