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Rayfield, Donald, 1942-

Stalin and his hangmen : an authoritative portrait of a tyrant and those who served him / Donald Rayfield. - London : Viking, 2004. - xxvi, 528 pages, [24] pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Ports. on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Stalin did not act alone. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the Soviet Union during the three decades of Stalin's dictatorship, were the result of a tight network of trusted henchmen (and women), spies, psychopaths, and thugs. At the top of this pyramid of terror sat five indispensable hangmen who presided over the various incarnations of Stalin's secret police. Donald Rayfield probes the lives, the minds, the twisted careers, and the unpunished crimes of Stalin's loyal assassins." "As Rayfield shows, Stalin and his henchmen worked relentlessly to coerce and suborn leading Soviet intellectuals, artists, writers, lawyers, and scientists. Maxim Gorky, Aleksandr Fadeev, Alexei Tolstoi, Isaak Babel, and Osip Mandelstam were all caught in Stalin's web - courted, toyed with, betrayed, and then ruthlessly destroyed. In bringing to light the careers, personalities, relationships, and "accomplishments" of Stalin's key henchmen and their most prominent victims, Rayfield creates a chilling drama, spanning half a century, of the intersection of political fanaticism, personal vulnerability, and blind lust for power."--Jacket.

ISBN: 0670910880 9780670910885 0375506322 9780375506321 0141003758 9780141003757

Nat. Bib. No.: GBA4Z6218 bnb

Subjects--Personal Names:
Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953.
Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953 --Friends and associates.

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Heads of state--Soviet Union--Biography.
Police chiefs--Soviet Union--Biography.
Communists--Soviet Union--Biography.

Subjects--Geographic Terms:
Soviet Union--Politics and government--1917-1936.
Soviet Union--Politics and government--1936-1953.
Soviet Union--History--1925-1953.

Index Terms--Genre/Form:
Biography.

LC Class. No.: DK268.4 / .R39 2004b

Dewey Class. No.: 947.08420922