There have been many biographies of Stalin but the court that surrounded him is untravelled ground. Simon Sebag-Montefiore acclaimed biographer of Catherine the Greats lover prime minister & general Potemkin has unearthed the vast underpinning that sustained Stalin. Not only ministers such as Molotov or secret service chiefs such as Beria but men & women whose loyalty he trusted only until the next purge. Here is the Stalin story from the inside full of revelations. How the death of Stalins wife was hushed up
- was it suicide? How the Soviet leaders & their families lived & partied inside the Kremlin walls. What happened on the first day of war with Germany in 1941. The fullest account of the meeting between Stalin Roosevelt & Churchill that settled the fate of the axis powers. & how the Great Terror in which 10 million died actually happened. Robert Service (St Antonys Oxford) former head of Russian history at the School of Slavonic Studies U. of London: Simon Sebag Montefiore has pulled it off. His book succeeds in giving us an intimate picture of daily life in the Kremlin under Stalin. The arrests & killings are not ignored; indeed Montefiore supplies extra chapters & verses on the process by which the Soviet dictator moved against his enemies real & potential. An abundance of the sources are wholly new. The result is a gripping account. Stalin was a vengeful conspirator & a murderous leader. But he was also normal in many ways. He was convivial solicitous & even flirtatious. When he wanted he could be quite a charmer. This duality has long been under-appreciated but it helps to explain why Stalin was admired as well as feared by his associates
- & indeed why his power endured. This is a fundamental theme & it is one of Montefiores that he handles it with excitement & cogency.

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Drawing on a wealth of unexplored material
- available for the first time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union
- Robert

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The Sayles might not have been the only Jewish atheist communist family in Liverpool but Alexei knew from an early age that they were one of the more eccentric. Born on the day egg rationing came to an end Alexei was the only child of Joe an affable trade unionist who led the family on railway expeditions across eastern Europe & Molly a hot-tempered red-head who terrified teachers & insisted Alexei see the Red Army Choir instead of the Beatles. Perceptive & hilarious this is a portrait of a family a city a country & a continent going through enormous changes. ...

Marshal Georgy Zhukov is one of military historys legendary names. He played a decisive role in the battles of Moscow Stalingrad & Kursk that brought down the Nazi regime. He was the first of the Allied generals to enter Berlin & it was he who took the German surrender. He led the huge victory parade in Red Square riding a white horse & in doing so dangerously provoking Stalins envy. His post-war career was equally eventful
- Zhukov found himself sacked & banished twice & wrongfully accused of disloyalty. However he remains one of the most decorated officers in the history of both Russia & the Soviet Union. Since his death in 1974 Zhukov has increasingly been seen as the indispensable military leader of the Second World War surpassing Eisenhower Patton Montgomery & Mac Arthur in his military brilliance & ferocity. Making use of hundreds of documents from Russian military archives as well as unpublished versions of Zhukovs memoirs Geoffrey Roberts fashions a remarkably intimate portrait of a man whose personality was as fascinating as it was contradictory. Tough decisive strong-willed & brutal as a soldier in his private life he was charming & gentle. Zhukovs relations with Stalins other generals were often prickly & fraught with rivalry but he was the only one among them to stand up to the Soviet dictator. Piercing the hyperbole of the Zhukov personality cult Roberts debunks many of the myths that have sprung up around Zhukovs life to deliver fresh insights into the marshals relations with Stalin Khrushchev & Eisenhower. A highly regarded historian of Soviet Russia Roberts has fashioned the definitive biography of this seminal 20th-century figure.
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Moscow lies deep under snow & Arkady Renko is called in to handle a delicate matter: passengers riding the last metro of the night have reported seeing the ghost of Stalin on the platform edge. Not everyone it seems likes the fact that Stalin is dead.. . But in the midst of a blizzard nothing is as it first appears to be. Renkos girlfriend Eva & his adopted son Zhenya seem to be slipping into danger. The owner of a matrimonial agency wants her husband killed. An innocent Russian Bride employs a garrotte. A chess grandmaster wanders into Renkos life & leads him into the line of fire. Diehard Communists gather to sing along with Stalin. Red Diggers uncover secrets buried for half century in a desolate forest & Renko discovers ghosts that have been waiting for him all his life.. . As Russia swings more & more to the right Renko is more & more out of step. Not only an original & deeply humane thriller Stalins Ghost is also a wonderful evocation of the emerging New Russia. Praise for Martin Cruz Smith: Cruz Smith not only constructs grittily realistic plots he also has a gift for characterisation of which most thriller writers can only dream Mail on Sunday ...

The Access to History series is the most popular & trusted series for AS & A level history students. The new editions combine all the strengths of this well-loved series with a new design & features that allow all students access to the content & study skills needed to achieve exam success. This is a new edition of the bestselling title Bolshevik & Stalinist Russia 1918-56 which now focuses on the period from 1924-53. It has been revised & fully updated for the 2008 AS specifications for Edexcel & AQA providing both a narrative & an analysis of the impact of Stalins leadership on the USSR. It examines Stalins rise to power following Lenins death in 1924 the nature of his rule the economic changes he brought about & his foreign policies. Finally a concluding chapter focuses on what life was like in Stalinist Russia. Throughout the book key dates terms & issues are highlighted & historical interpretations of key debates are outlined. Summary diagrams are included to consolidate knowledge & understanding of the period & exam-style questions & tips written by examiners for each

Specification provide the opportunity to develop exam skills.

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Marshal Georgy Zhukov is one of military history's legendary names. He played a decisive role in the battles of Moscow Stalingrad & Kursk that brought down the Nazi regime. He was the first of the Allied generals to enter Berlin & it was he who took the German surrender. He led the huge victory parade in Red Square riding a white horse & in doing so dangerously provoking Stalin's envy. His post-war career was equally eventful
- Zhukov found himself sacked & banished twice & wrongfully accused of disloyalty. However he remains one of the most decorated officers in the history of both Russia & the Soviet Union. Since his death in 1974 Zhukov has increasingly been seen as the indispensable military leader of the Second World War surpassing Eisenhower Patton Montgomery & Mac Arthur in his military brilliance & ferocity. Making use of hundreds of documents from Russian military archives as well as unpublished versions of Zhukov's memoirs Geoffrey Roberts fashions a remarkably intimate portrait of a man whose personality was as fascinating as it was contradictory. Tough decisive strong-willed & brutal as a soldier in his private life he was charming & gentle. Zhukov's relations with Stalin's other generals were often prickly & fraught with rivalry but he was the only one among them to stand up to the Soviet dictator. Piercing the hyperbole of the Zhukov personality cult Roberts debunks many of the myths that have sprung up around Zhukov's life to deliver fresh insights into the marshal's relations with Stalin Khrushchev & Eisenhower. A highly regarded historian of Soviet Russia Roberts has fashioned the definitive biography of this seminal 20th-century figure.
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Antony Beevor's Stalingrad" is a harrowing look at one of history's darkest moments. In October 1942 a panzer officer wrote ' Stalingrad is no longer a town... Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure'. The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler & Stalin's determination to win the gruesome vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle with fierce h&-to-hand fighting in each room of each building was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army & the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe & the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius civilian bravery obsession carnage & the nature of war itself Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort. "A superb re-telling. Beevor combines a soldier's understanding of war's realities with the narrative techniques of a novelist... This is a book that lets the reader look into the face of battle". (Orlando Figes " Sunday Telegraph"). "A brilliantly researched tour de force of military history". (Sarah Bradford " The Times"). Antony Beevor is the renowned author of " Stalingrad" which won the Samuel Johnson Prize the Wolfson Prize for History & the Hawthornden Prize for Literature & Berlin which received the first Longman-History Today Trustees' Award. His books have sold nearly four million copies." ...

Time's up. You're Next. All he had to do was name the woman he wanted. It was that easy. They would do all the hard work." Detective Sergeant Mark ' Heck' Heckenburg is investigating the disappearance of 38 different women. Each one was happy & successful until they vanished without a trace. Desperate to find her missing sister Lauren Wraxford seeks out Heck's help. Together they enter a seedy underworld of gangsters & organised crime. But when they hear rumours about the so-called ' Nice Guys Club' they hit a brick wall. They're the gang that no one will talk about. Because the Nice Guys can arrange anything you want. Provided you pay the price... Dark terrifying & unforgettable. Stalkers will keep fans of Stuart Mac Bride & Katia Lief looking over their shoulder." ...

Jockey Josh Swallow is about to retire & hes aiming to go out at the top. Hes ridden over 1000 winners & landed all the big prizes in the sport
- all except one. So hes determined that this season the title of champion jockey will finally be his. But it wont be easy. Theres Ben OBrien the brilliant young Irish rider in his first full season who already has a lead on Josh in the championship race. & leading trainer Leo Lovall once Joshs best friend & now his most bitter enemy. Theres also someone else with a keen interest in Josh. Shes his biggest fan though he has no idea she exists. & hers is the kind of obsession that will never be satisfied
- not even by murder...

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