“A grim masterpiece shot through with lashes of black humor. One of the 2004 Guardian Books of the Year.” -Simon Schama, The Guardian (London) “I loved the totalitarian high baroque sleaze of Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Stalin. A triumph of research.” -John le Carré, The Observer Seldom has the picture been put in finer focus than by Montefiore.” -Alistair Horne, The Times (London) “ masterful and terrifying account of Stalin as seen within his close entourage. “Montefiore combines his research among the primary sources and the fruits of his interviews into a focused, gripping story about a man, who, along with Mao, Hitler and Genghis Khan, has to be in the running for history’s greatest mass murderer.” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette This is one of the few recent books on Stalinism that will be read in years to come.” - The Guardian (London) Montefiore has illuminated wider aspects of the history of the USSR. A superb piece of research and frighteningly lucid.” - The Washington Times Montefiore’s biography is far different from anything in this genre. “Ultra reader-friendly, lively, gossipy and packaged with revelations about the intimacies and intrigues of Stalin the man and his courtiers. This is sure to be one of the outstanding books of the year.” - St. Montefiore has written a supremely important book about Joseph Stalin, a biography that other scholars will find hard to equal. but also because they emerge in these pages as surprisingly normal.” - The Washington Post Book World “Unprecedented in its intimacy and horrifying in its implications, not merely because it shows that the engineers of one of history’s greatest holocausts were depraved. A deeply researched and wonderfully readable accomplishment-scholarship as a kind of savage gossip.” - Time A dark and excellent book.” - The New York Review of Books Disturbing and perplexing.” - The New York Times Book Review “The first intimate portrait of a man who had more lives on his conscience than Hitler. For anyone fascinated by the nature of evil-and by the effects of absolute power on human relationships-this book will provide new insights on every page.” -Anne Applebaum, Evening Standard (London)

The court of red tsar