Author: BRENT, JONATHAN. NAUMOV, VLADIMIR P.
Title: Stalin's last crime : the doctor's plot
Description: London : John Murray 2003. First Edition. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. now mylar-sleeved. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight. bright. clean and especially sharp-cornered.; 8vo 8' - 9' tall; 399 pages; Physical desc. : xi. 399 p. ; 25 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Subject: Stalin. Joseph (1879-1953) --Views on Jews --Persecutions --Soviet Union --Physicians. Summary: Stalin revelled in the self-coined epithet 'Uncle Joe' because of its genial connotations. In fact he distrusted almost everyone. often with good reason. and by the 1950s he had taken to bumping off those whose eyes. noses or voices he didn't like. Even his security forces became uneasy at this degree of paranoia and the resulting slaughter. especially among Jews. Realizing this. Stalin hatched his greatest purge of all on the pretext of what became known as 'The Doctors' Plot'. In January 1953 the Russian dictator claimed to have discovered a conspiracy among Jewish doctors to murder Kremlin and KGB leaders. Pravda and other publications displayed the 'proof' of signed confessions. Ten years before the Cuban missile crisis. it seemed the world stood on the brink of another world war. for Stalin claimed that the doctors were being paid by America to bring down his regime. The increasingly unstable Uncle Joe wanted a war against his capitalist enemy. Less than two months later Stalin himself was dead. It was as fortuitous a death as could be imagined. and conspiracy theories have abounded ever since. Many believe that Stalin was poisoned by his security chief. Beria. who knew the Soviets could not win a war against the Americans. Others suggest that Kruschev persuaded Beria to commit the murder. then promptly seized power and had Beria shot. The two authors of this complex book have peeled away decades of conjecture and misinformation. largely thanks to having gained access to previously secret files locked in Kremlin vaults. The story they tell is even more bizarre than has previously been suggested. but they are careful to back up their findings with copious reference to the testimony they unearthed. Both academics. Brent and Naumov rally the evidence meticulously and without the sensationalist spin indulged in by some previous writers. The result is one of the greatest studies yet of paranoia and panic inside the Cold War Soviet Union. by Jonathan Brent and Vladimir P. Naumov.ISBN: 0719554489. Weight in Kg appr.:

Keywords: 0719554489