Private life in stalins russia is the telling of the absolute disregard and wholesale destruction of life in stalinist russia. Vladimir ilich lenin died in 1924, with stalin emerging as the new leader by 1928. A new york times notable book of 2007a tremendous achievement. Orlando figes is the author of a peoples tragedy, natashas dance, and the crimean war, among other books. From the awardwinning author of a peoples tragedy and natashas d. A professor of history at birkbeck, university of london and a frequent contrib. The author examines history from the point of view of the people who lived in those times, relying mostly on oral history to retell the past. Drawing on a huge range of sources letters, memoirs, conversations orlando figes tells the story of how russians tried to endure life under stalin. The whisperers by orlando figes books the guardian. A new york times notable book of 2007 a tremendous achievement. This is not a typical historical book that laconically cites events in chronological order attempting to focus on several exciting episodes. This book should be made compulsory reading in russia today. Drawing on a vast collection of interviews and archives, the whisperers recreates the anguish of family. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless.
The whisperers by orlando figes penguin books new zealand. Private life in stalins russia, 2007, isbn 00805074619, p. Book summary moving from the revolution of 1917 to the death of stalin and beyond, orlando figes recreates the moral maze in which russians found themselves, where one wrong turn could destroy a family or, perversely, end up saving it. Orlando figess heartbreaking the whisperers explores the suppression of the family in the ussr, says geraldine bedell. It is figes s achievement to have given, in the whisperers, a sense of the diversity and unpredictability attendant even on one of the darkest phases of 20thcentury history. The approach figes takes is unusual with historical accounts. Iscriviti a prime tutte le categorie vai ricerca ciao, accedi account e liste accedi account e liste ordini iscriviti a. He is the author of peasant russia, civil war, a peoples tragedy. Orlando figess heartbreaking the whisperers explores the suppression of the family in the ussr, says geraldine bedell geraldine bedell sun. In this powerful work of history, orlando figes chronicles the private history of family life during the violent and repressive reign of josef stalin. The whisperers begins in the period of the 1917 bolshevik revolution and the costly civil war that followed.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the whisperers. Alexander cockburn, the sunday times uk this book is the result of a largescale research project and its importance cannot be overestimated. Those who shaped the political system became, very frequently, its victims. Private life in stalins russia first edition by figes, orlando isbn. Stories of my life in soviet russia, by sol tetelbaum that was published recently. Private lives in stalins russia, by orlando figes a new history of stalinist russia tells the hidden stories of everyday betrayal and loss. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
The whisperers by orlando figes from the awardwinning author of a peoples tragedy and natashas dance, a landmark account of what private life was like for russians in the worst years of soviet repression there have been many accounts of the public aspects of stalins dictatorship. Figes has gone to tremendous lengths in this book to obtain first hand accounts of the great terror, the state security services such as the nkvd and cheka. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the. This letter, dated april 6, 2011, draws attention to numerous errors and misrepresentations in just a few sample fragments of the whisperers not the entire book, as figes would have nation. Figes and his team have unearthed diaries and accounts from archives and interviewed hundreds of survivors. Private life in stalins russia by orlando figes drawing on a huge range of sources letters, memoirs, conversations orlando figes tells the story of how russians tried to endure life under stalin, brilliantly conveying the reality of their terrible choices. The sunday times london the whisperers is a triumphant act of recovery. Orlando figes book the whisperers is one of the most powerful books i have read in a very long time. Given the lives lost during his rule, the attribution is fitting regardless of whether the attribution is correct. His large team of researchers sought out the basic material as collected in archived memoirs of the period and in interviews with old people. It brings right home to the reader, the real risks and fear under which soviet citizens were crushed into submission by a corrupt, crass, ineffective, bullying, dim political elite. In this powerful work of history, orlando figes chronicles. Private life in stalins russia, by orlando figes due to which linked it with my memoir family matters and more.
Orlando figes is professor of history at birkbeck college, university of london. The whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn. The whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or, perversely, later save it. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Their books did indeed reflect the experience of people like. The underlying premise of the book is that all the written.
Private life in stalins russia kindle edition by figes, orlando. As figes, a leading historian of the soviet period, concludes in the whisperers, his extraordinary book about the impact of the gulag on the inner world of ordinary citizens, a great. His works have been translated into twentyseven languages. The socalled new society that resulted was notable for the lack of affection parents showed childrenwhich, as figes notes, was the habit of the old aristocracy, now spread into the larger citizenry. Private life on the stalins conveyor of deaths some thoughts about orlando figes book by sol tetelbaum fremont, ca usa i learned about the book the whisperers. Orlando figes the whisperers provides a shocking insight into life in the old soviet union as ordinary people lived it day in and day out. The sunday times londonthe whisperers is a triumphant act of recovery. The underlying premise of the book is that all the written and printed, primary source material from the stalin era is so unreliable that the only way and best way of understanding it is by interviewing people who experienced it.
His book the whisperers followed the approach of oral history. Figes, the preeminent russian historian in the english language, has made it his lifes work to preserve and understand the nightmarish soviet centurythe whisperers is the remarkable, deeply moving resultcrammed full of humanity, like a dostoevsky novel brought to life. In down to earth terms, the author details how the socialist establishment subverted family life with the goal of producing a compliant populace. The whisperers, figes s followup, is an altogether more sombre and claustro phobic volume, structured as it is around lives constrained by oppression and reduced to hushed forms of communication. The propaganda image of the ideal child was a precocious political orator mouthing agitprop. The mother to give her child to the soviet state that is our task. The soviet union in the cold war from stalin to gorbachev, which is a brilliant summary of that period.
987 445 135 187 905 504 1497 538 1453 427 579 19 298 1147 1410 126 19 612 1181 990 300 408 43 835 462 1156 1137 1133 535 731 5 201 431 549 273 646