Yoram Gorlizki teaches Russian politics and history at the
University of Manchester, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Government.
Oleg Khlevniuk is a Senior Research Fellow at the State Archive of
the Russian Federation.
"[W]ould be useful reading for those studying the regimes of Adolf
Hitler, Francisco Franco, Fidel Castro, or Saddam Hussein."--Eric
Duskin, Christopher Newport University
"[A] close-to-definitive reappraisal of the political history of
late Soviet Stalinism, an accomplishment that had eluded so many
scholars due to the lack of sufficient archival access...[A]n
exhaustively researched and lucidly written volume..."--Slavic
Review
"A book of impeccable scholarship, which deserves to be read by all
serious students of modern Russian history and politics."--The
Russian Review
"Whereas earlier historians of this period have relied largely on
newspaper articles, leaked reports and memoirs--many colored to
show Khrushchev, Stalin's eventual successor, in a positive
light--Gorlizki and Khlevniuk have trawled through piles of newly
available Central Committee paperwork and personal correspondence
to create an admirably objective and balanced account of Stalin's
relationship with his ruling circle....For scholars seeking a
hard-nosed
analysis of high-level Soviet politics after the war, this book
could hardly be bettered."--Moscow Times
"The authors' impressive work with the archival sources makes for a
convincing and gripping account of the dictator's final months and
days....[A] book of impeccable scholarship, which deserves to be
read by all serious students of modern Russian history and
politics....It may attract comparison with those two splendid
blockbusters, William Taubman's Khrushchev: The Man and His Era and
Simon Sebag Montefiore's Stalin: The Court of the Red
Star. While the scope of their research is narrower, Gorlizki and
Khlevniuk display no less skill in creating this definitive
monograph."--T.H. Rigby, Australian National University,
Canberra
"A highly valuable book. It adds significantly to our understanding
of Stalinist dictatorship, presents new evidence for what happened
in the Soviet Union, and analyzes it insightfully."--H-Net
"The most detailed account to date of Soviet high politics in the
post-war Stalinist years. The analysis and revelations in this book
are absolutely first-rate."--CHOICE
"Whereas earlier historians of this period have relied largely on
newspaper articles, leaked reports, and memoirs--many colored to
show Khrushchev, Stalin's eventual sucessor, in a positive
light--Gorlizki and Khlevniuk have trawled through piles of newly
available Central Committee paperwork and personal correspondence
to create an admirably objective and balanced account of Stalin's
relationship with his ruling circle....For scholars seeking a
hard-nosed
analysis of high-level Soviet politics after the war, this book
could hardly be bettered."--Moscow Times
"Cold Peace is a masterful analysis of high politics around Stalin
in the least known period of his autocracy. Dark, grim, subtle,
crackling with the electricity of Stalin's seething personality and
constant manouvering, this brilliant book delivers readable
narrative history, superb archival research and a splendid analysis
of that terrifying character: it destroys myths with the same
facility that it unveils new fascinations....as important and
magisterial for the postwar period as the classic historical works
of the Revolution and Terror."--The Spectator
"A tour de force by Russia's most distinguished historian of Soviet
politics and an outstanding young British scholar, based on
voluminous new archival material, clearly presented and judiciously
analyzed. All scholars and students of Soviet history need to buy
this book, which for the first time gives us a reliable, detailed
account of the internal politics of the late Stalin period in
highly readable form. Indispensable for understanding both Stalin's
role
and personal power and the surprisingly sophisticated mechanisms
that functioned routinely without his direct intervention."--Sheila
Fitzpatrick, author of Everyday Stalinism
"Cold Peace is magisterially researched, clearly written, and makes
an important contribution to our knowledge of Stalin's last eight
years. A fascinating description of how Stalin systematically
humiliated and persecuted precisely those on whom he was most
dependent."--Abbott Gleason, author of Totalitarianism
"Using previously unavailable archives, Gorlizki and Khlevniuk have
reconstructed the inner workings of the top Soviet leadership in
the declining years of Stalin's brutal reign. They take us into the
inner sanctum of the Kremlin and weave for us an intricate tapestry
of cold calculation and intrigue, jockeying for influence and
caprice, with Stalin squarely in the center and in control. Rather
than simply the tale of degenerating dictatorship, the years
after World War II were marked by consolidation of the institutions
and habits of authoritarianism."--Ronald Grigor Suny, University of
Chicago
"[A] most readable, original, and stimulating study."--Christopher
Read, University of Warwick
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