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Lenin the Dictator

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Lenin the Dictator

By: Victor Sebestyen
Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
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Summary

 Victor Sebestyen's intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world.

Lenin believed that the 'the political is the personal', and while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen's focus will be on Lenin the man - a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, and whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his ménage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend.

Told through the prism of Lenin's key relationships, Sebestyen's lively biography casts a new light the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.

Read by Jonathan Aris

(p) 2017 Orion Publishing Group Ltd©2017 Victor Sebestyen Historical Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State Russia Imperialism Socialism Soviet Union War Capitalism
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Critic Reviews

An excellent, original and compelling portrait of Lenin as man and leader (Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR)
Richly readable ... enthralling but appalling (Francis Wheen)
Victor Sebestyen brings the man's complexities to life in Lenin the Dictator, balancing personality with politics in succinct and readable prose ... Sebestyen describes particularly keenly how this ruthless, domineering, often vicious man depended on three women to sustain him (David Reynolds)
The attention to detail is flawless (Alex Larman)
The story of the Bolshevik revolution is fascinating in several ways, and Sebestyen does a good job of telling it ... entertaining (Tibor Fischer)
Can first-rate history read like a thriller? With Lenin the Dictator the journalist Victor Sebestyen has pulled off this rarest of feats. How did he do it? Start with a Russian version of House of Cards and behold Vladimir Ilyich Lenin pre-empt Frank Underwood's cynicism and murderous ambition by 100 years. Add meticulous research by digging into Soviet archives, including those locked away until recently. Plow through 9.5 million words of Lenin's Collected Works. Finally, apply a scriptwriter's knack for drama and suspense that needs no ludicrous cliffhangers to enthrall history buffs and professionals alike (Josef Joffe)
In this new biography, Victor Sebestyen gives a vivid and rounded picture of Lenin the man ... Sebestyen brings to the task a gift for narrative and for describing his rich cast of characters (Margaret MacMillan)
Victor Sebestyen does an impressive job of telling Lenin's life story ... it is a highly readable overview (Evan Mawdsley)
In his engagingly written biography the author ... captures all the drama of Lenin's leadership against
a background of imperial collapse, the ravages of war and the building of a dictatorship ... the Bolshevik leader emerges from these pages as a man unencumbered by critical self-awareness, by doubts or by any moral conflict over the extraordinary costs inflicted on others by the pursuit of his revolutionary goals (Daniel Beer)
An enthralling portrait of one of the key figures of the 20th century
A fresh and powerful portrait of Lenin, and at just the right time. As Bolshevik ideas and tactics return to world politics, Victor Sebestyen focuses our attention on the man who invented them (Anne Applebaum, author of RED FAMINE: STALIN'S WAR ON UKRAINE)
Page-turning and enlightening (Victoria Hislop)
An excellent new biography (Saul David)
All stars
Most relevant
He had a very interesting life some parts could easily have been from a movie jumping from the train for instance. Loved the quotes from Churchill!

Very informative and Enjoyable

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it was amazing, unbiased and deeply researched.
finished it in 3 days. lenin lived for his people indeed

respect

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This book is essentially a Lenin hit piece, aimed at dragging up everything that can be framed in the negative about Lenin. Thoroughly biased. If you are trying to understand more about Lenin and Russian socialism this is not a good starting place, nor is it innovative enough for more expert readers. I only bothered listening because there doesn't seem to be any other Lenin biographies on this platform.

As sensationalist as the title sounds

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