A landmark history of the Soviet Union under Stalin offers a vivid portrait of the Soviet leader and his trusted henchmen, capturing the lives and careers of the five ruthless politicos who presided over the diverse incarnations of Stalin's secret police and became responsible for the deaths of twenty million Soviet citizens. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

This is the first comprehensive history of the literature of Georgia to be written in English Donald Rayfield reveals this literature to be unique among that of the former Soviet Union in its combination of quality and length of literary tradition. Beginning with the first, overwhelmingly religious texts of the fifth century, he charts the development of Georgian literature through the "golden age" of medieval literature, which culminated in Rustaveli's great poetic work The Knight in the Panther's Skin, to the diverse literature of the twentieth century. A major contribution to an area of growing interest, this concise but thorough history combines clarity and accessibility for the non-specialist (all passages are translated into English) with a wide breadth of cultural reference.

Presents a definitive biography, the product of five years of research into the Chekhov archives in Russia and the discovery of thousands of documents and letters (view table of contents)

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Product Description: Part of the "Everyman" series which has been re-set with wide margins for notes and easy-to-read type. Each title includes a themed introduction by leading authorities on the subject, life-and-times chronology of the author, text summaries, annotated reading lists and selected criticism and notes...read more