Simon Sebag Montefiore
Stalin
Published June 2004 by Orion Audio at £15.99
ISBN: 0-75286 601 X
Read by John Nettles Fifty years after his death, Stalin remains one of the creators of our world. The scale of his crimes has made him the very personification of evil. In this enthralling history of Stalin’s imperial court, the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous brutality are brought blazingly to life.
Stalin organised the deadly game of power amongst his courtiers: a secret, but strangely cosy world with a dynamic, colourful cast of killers, fanatics, degenerates and adventurers. Exploring every aspect of this supreme politician, from his doomed marriage and mistresses, and his obsession with film, music and literature, to his identification with the Tsars, Simon Sebag Montefiore unveils a less enigmatic, more intimate Stalin, no less brutal but more human and always astonishing.
Based on a wealth of new materials from Stalin’s archives and contemporary correspondence, this is a sensitive but damning portrait of the Gengis Khan of our epoch.
Before Midsomer Murders, John Nettles was best known for his role as Sergeant Jim Bergerac in the television series Bergerac. Other TV appearances include A Family at War, Black Beauty, The Liver Birds, Dickens of London and The Merchant of Venice. Stage work ranges from the Royal Shakespeare Company to pantomime. Orion Audio invited him to read Stalin because of his magnificent audiobook reading of George Orwell’s 1984.
6 Cassettes Running Time: 10 hrs 30 mins
Abridged by Isabel Morgan
Produced by Nicholas Jones About The Author Simon Sebag Montefiore, who was born in I96S, read history at Cambridge. He spent most of the nineties travelling through the ex-Soviet Empire and wrote widely on Russia, especially for the Sunday Times, New York Times and Spectator. Prince of Princes: the Life of Potemkin was published in 2000 and shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper and Marsh Biography prizes. The author of two novels and presenter of television documentaries, he lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children.
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Stalin
by Simon Sebag Montefiore at Amazon.co.uk 