And it is this presentation of him that I believe is truly thought-provoking, as it really made me consider how someone, with such a seemingly normal life in the background – although troubled by problems like his wife committing suicide – could order the terror and deaths of so many of his fellow countrymen.
I found that the book forced me to see Stalin in a light that I had not considered him in before in my historical analyses: as a father, as a family man, as someone who regularly attended dinner parties with his close circle of friends. Although this side of him is apparent in the work, what I found particularly striking when reading the book in Year 12, was the human side of Stalin that Montefiore depicts – something that was often forgotten in the classroom in our immediate labelling of dictators as psychopaths. Montefiore’s account of Stalin’s life as the leader of the Soviet Union is not your typical narration of him as a paranoid, murderous dictator. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s The Court of the Red Tsar was one of the first historical books I read from cover to cover and I truly enjoyed reading, as it was finally something that I, with the assistance of my amazing teacher, had chosen to read on my own and not for an exam or as part of my homework! Despite its length, the compelling way in which the book is written meant that I was determined to get to the end and see the book’s twists and turns along the way.
0 kommentar(er)
