Stalin

The Court of the Red Tsar

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore

Narrated by: John Nettles

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the British Book Awards History Book of the Year

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize

This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar.

Based on groundbreaking research, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals in captivating detail the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous cruelty of this secret world. Written with extraordinary narrative verve, this magnificent feat of scholarly research has become a classic of modern history writing. Showing how Stalin's triumphs and crimes were the product of his fanatical Marxism and his gifted but flawed character, this is an intimate portrait of a man as complicated and human as he was brutal and chilling.

Read by John Nettles

©2003 Simon Sebag Montefiore (P)2004 Orion Publishing Group Ltd.

Critic reviews

"A marvellously racy, gossipy study, based on immense research." (Evening Standard)

Must know

The horror of the Soviet Union under Stalin is something that must be made known. This book has done a lot to bring this reality to the fore. My only criticism is that this is an abridged version and in some ways seemed a bit disjointed. John Nettles renders a good narrative and I will certainly be encouraged to listen to anything else he might read.

Disappointing---apparently poor abridgement

I had read excellent reviews of the book, but was disappointed with this audiobook. The historical material is very interesting and it is excellently read. The problem is that the narrative is rambling and disjointed. Since the book is so well rated, this appears to be a problem with the abridgement. Save your money and wait for an unabridged version!

A very interesting tale

I'm not really a history or war buff but this had me fixed. The reader helps to keep the pace going.

I enjoyed it.

Evil Empire

This book made me think about what Reagan used to refer to as the evil empire.

A lesson in random lunacy put to work, based on excellent research.You wished this was fiction only.

An exciting wellwritten book keeping your attention all the way through.

5 stars

Truly enjoyable

I have been listening to this for about 6 hours and am finding it thoroughly enjoyable. The story is woven so as to include both descriptions of Stalin's actions and psyche, as well as those of the individuals surrounding him and the historical period in which they all lived. The result is a rich narrative that really brings the listener (or reader) into that period. Be warned that it is just that, a narrative.

The problem of course is that names of soviet 'celebrities' are thrown about as if the listener is already acquainted with them. Luckily I know most of the names, but I can imagine the story could get unwieldy for those without some background knowledge. Having read any general text on Stalin's rule should serve that purpose.

Babble

This audiobok has NO structure - I mean no Chapters that dissect it by topic or time. Consequently it quickly becomes just a stream of words many of which are (inevitably) meaningless. This lack of structure unfortunately turns an otherwise excellent Narrator (John Nettles) into something like a software translator.
I do not recommend it to anyone