Lenin the Dictator
Published on 9. February 2017
Book
Hardback
592 pages
978-1-4746-0044-6 (ISBN)
Description
Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography
Victor Sebestyen's intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world.
Lenin believed that the 'the political is the personal', and while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen focuses on Lenin the man - a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, and whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his menage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend.
Told through the prism of Lenin's key relationships, Sebestyen's lively biography casts a new light on the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.
Victor Sebestyen's intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world.
Lenin believed that the 'the political is the personal', and while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen focuses on Lenin the man - a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, and whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his menage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend.
Told through the prism of Lenin's key relationships, Sebestyen's lively biography casts a new light on the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.
Reviews / Votes
An excellent, original and compelling portrait of Lenin as man and leader -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of <i>STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR</i> Richly readable ... enthralling but appalling -- Francis Wheen * MAIL ON SUNDAY * Victor Sebestyen brings the man's complexities to life in Lenin the Dictator, balancing personality with politics in succinct and readable prose ... Sebestyen describes particularly keenly how this ruthless, domineering, often vicious man depended on three women to sustain him -- David Reynolds * NEW STATESMAN * The attention to detail is flawless -- Alex Larman * THE OBSERVER * The story of the Bolshevik revolution is fascinating in several ways, and Sebestyen does a good job of telling it ... entertaining -- Tibor Fischer * STANDPOINT * Can first-rate history read like a thriller? With Lenin the Dictator the journalist Victor Sebestyen has pulled off this rarest of feats. How did he do it? Start with a Russian version of House of Cards and behold Vladimir Ilyich Lenin pre-empt Frank Underwood's cynicism and murderous ambition by 100 years. Add meticulous research by digging into Soviet archives, including those locked away until recently. Plow through 9.5 million words of Lenin's Collected Works. Finally, apply a scriptwriter's knack for drama and suspense that needs no ludicrous cliffhangers to enthrall history buffs and professionals alike -- Josef Joffe * NEW YORK TIMES * In this new biography, Victor Sebestyen gives a vivid and rounded picture of Lenin the man ... Sebestyen brings to the task a gift for narrative and for describing his rich cast of characters -- Margaret MacMillan * THE OLDIE * Victor Sebestyen does an impressive job of telling Lenin's life story ... it is a highly readable overview -- Evan Mawdsley * BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE * In his engagingly written biography the author ... captures all the drama of Lenin's leadership againsta background of imperial collapse, the ravages of war and the building of a dictatorship ... the Bolshevik leader emerges from these pages as a man unencumbered by critical self-awareness, by doubts or by any moral conflict over the extraordinary costs inflicted on others by the pursuit of his revolutionary goals -- Daniel Beer * GUARDIAN * An enthralling portrait of one of the key figures of the 20th century * MAIL ON SUNDAY </i>Summer Books<i> * A fresh and powerful portrait of Lenin, and at just the right time. As Bolshevik ideas and tactics return to world politics, Victor Sebestyen focuses our attention on the man who invented them -- Anne Applebaum, author of <i>RED FAMINE: STALIN'S WAR ON UKRAINE</i> Page-turning and enlightening -- Victoria Hislop An excellent new biography -- Saul David * EVENING STANDARD * In this insightful biography, Sebestyen examines the brilliant but ruthless personality whom journalists glorified and shows why the dictatorial government that Lenin imposed on his country made a nationwide cult of personality inevitable ... Readers see a great historical tragedy play out, however, as Russia's dying Red Tsar leaves his most bloody-minded lieutenant in prime position to take over the brutal police state he has forged. A compelling portrait of an epoch-making figure -- Bryce Christensen * BOOKLIST starred review * An accessible, fair and marvellously written biography that reinforces what we have learned in the past three decades ... For anyone interested in an introduction to the world's greatest revolutionary that draws on the latest research, Mr Sebestyen's Lenin would be the place to start -- Douglas Smith * WALL STREET JOURNAL *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Illustrations
16pp b&w
Dimensions
Height: 164 mm
Width: 239 mm
Thickness: 53 mm
Weight
928 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4746-0044-6 (9781474600446)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2017
1st Edition
Weidenfeld and Nicholson
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Victor Sebestyen is the acclaimed author of TWELVE DAYS, REVOLUTION 1989 and 1946. He was born in Budapest, and was a child when his family left Hungary as refugees. As a journalist, he has worked for numerous British newspapers, including the EVENING STANDARD, DAILY MAIL and THE TIMES. He reported widely from Eastern Europe when Communism collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. He covered the wars in former Yugoslavia and the breakup of the Soviet Union. At the EVENING STANDARD he was foreign editor, media editor and chief leader writer. He is an associate editor of NEWSWEEK.