Stalin
An Unknown Portrait
Miklós Kun, Professor of History, Eötvös
Loránd University, Budapest
"The best of all the books this year - and highly
significant in terms of genuine new research - was Miklos
Kun's Stalin: An Unknown Portrait, a splendid, subtle
and deeply researched picture of the dictator and his
circle, filled with new photographs. Kun manages to
give a much more intimate and true picture of the workings
of the inner circle: among several gems, he quotes Stalin's
correspondence with his 10-year-old daughter Svetlana,
who cheekily quizzes him on power and sends him orders
signed "Svetlana Stalina the Boss".
-- Financial Times
"Kun is the grandson of Bela Kun, who was the
leader of the nascent Hungarian Communist party and
the dominant figure of the ill-fated Communist regime
of 1919. Also, more importantly, Bela Kun was a refugee
in Moscow for almost two decades, and ultimately a victim
of Stalin's purges. Miklos Kun's family connections
enabled him to collect a valuable archive and in the
course of the 1990s to find and interview some of the
diminishing number of people who knew Stalin."
- The Russian Review
"The book contains a number of fascinating revelations;
in particular, it offers a wealth of new information
about Stalin's persecution of the families of his two
wives, Yekaterina Svanidze and Nadezhda Alliluyeva.
An additional strength is the inclusion of over 300
photos from the collecction of David King. ... this
impressive book is recommended for all collections with
interests in Russian history." - Choice
"Die persönliche Prägung des eigenen
Lebens durch die mächtigen Stalin-Legenden haben
den ungarischen, 1946 in der Sowjetunion geborenen Historiker
dazu bewogen, seine eigene Stalin-Biographie vorzulegen,
gleichsam um sich selbst von der immer noch herrschenden
Mythen zu befreien. Herausgekommen is dabei ein sehr
persönliches, engagiertes, um Aufklärung bemühtes
Buch in Bildbandformat mit unzähligen Abbildungen
von Stalin und seinen Weggefährten. Im Mittelpunkt
steht das Anliegen, die offiziellen, von der 'Beria-Bande'
zusammentragenen Daten und die offizielle Biographie
des 'Kratkij kurs' mit der Wahrheit zu konfrontieren".
- Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas
This exceptional volume of oral history contains exciting
new information about Stalin's actual and political
'family', the political Mafia and the clans around him.
The author has interviewed key politicians who survived
the Stalin era, including officials of the KGB and the
Komsomol, as well as people who had personal contact
with the dictator as secretaries or interpreters. Kun's
special expertise and his access to archival sources
in Russia have resulted in a work revealing jealously
guarded secrets.
In addition to the interviews and hitherto unpublished
correspondence between Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov,
Mikoyan, Zhdanov and others, the book also contains
a fascinating selection from a private collection of
photos of Stalin, his family members, and various political
actors of the period. Extensive notes, a bibliography,
and an index of names and photos add to the value of
the volume.
2003
396 pages, 220 mm x 285 mm (8.6" x 11"), appr.
300 photos
ISBN 978-963-9241-19-0 cloth $59.95 /€ 49.00 / £35.95
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