Stalin's shadow

Description

Joseph Stalin had known the Alliluyevs for many years before he married their daughter Nadya in 1918; they had all struggled together in the underground movement that led to the Bolshevik Revolution. But the idealistic Alliluyevs had no idea of the fate that their new son-in-law would inflict on the family. Now their story is told. Stalin's Shadow follows four generations of Alliluyevs from the 1860s to the present day, showing how "the sins of the fathers" reach down over the centuries. In this powerful tale of struggle, revolution, tragedy, and survival, Rosamond Richardson links the human story with its political background. Richardson brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of the Stalin era - Russia on the brink of change, then hurled into the one-party system and the rule of an autocrat who governed by fear. Interviews with the Alliluyevs offer exclusive and intriguing insights into Stalin's character, throwing light on the psychological forces that led him to perpetrate his legendary deeds. For the first time the family speaks frankly about their belief that Stalin was murdered and that the suicide of his second wife may have triggered the horrible purges of the 1930s; also his nephews movingly describe the return home of their mothers - Stalin's sisters-in-law - after years of solitary confinement. In moving personal accounts, the dictator's descendants describe the "long shadow" one man has cast over their lives. Stalin's shadow continues to haunt the family with personal tragedy today, a curse that unfolds a dark, powerful story.

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