Stalin's apologist
Subtitle: Walter Duranty, the New York times's man in Moscow
By: S.J. Taylor.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1990
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 404
Subjects: Duranty, Walter, 1884-1957; Foreign correspondents -- United States -- Biography; Foreign correspondents -- Soviet Union -- Biography; Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1917-1936
Description: Stalin's Apologist deftly unfolds the story of this accomplished but sordid and tragic life. Drawing on sources ranging from newspapers to private letters and journals to interviews with such figures as William Shirer and W. Averell Harriman, Taylor's vivid narrative unveils a figure driven by ambition, whose early success reporting on Bolshevik Russia--he was foremost in predicting Stalin's rise to power--established his international reputation, fed his overconfident contempt for his colleagues, and indeed led him to identify with the Soviet dictator. Taylor brilliantly captures the full range of Duranty's astonishing life, from his participation in the Satanic orgies of Aleister ("the Beast") Crowley, to his dramatic front-line reporting during World War I, to his epic womanizing and heavy drug and alcohol abuse. It is the bitter, ironic story of a man who had the rare opportunity to bring to light the suffering of the millions of Stalin's victims, but remained a prisoner of vanity, self-indulgence, and success.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 391-397)