feral said:
Hello...
I am doing a paper for my second year english class. I've chosen to do mine on my favorite book '1984' by George Orwell. A lot of it is based on Stalin and the times in both Russia and Germany when Stalin and Hitler were in power. So...never been a history buff. What do you know about Stalin that might be interesting, or do you recommend any books, links, etc about Stalin?
I just got a book on Ebay called "Twenty Letters to a Friend" by Svetlana Alliluyeva, (Stalin's daughter). I haven't read it yet, but it sounds fascinating.
She says, "Let the judging be done by those who come later, by men and women who didn't know the times and the people we know. Let it be left to new people to whom these years in Russia will be as remote and inexplicable, as terrible and strange, as the reign of Ivan the Terrible. But I do not think they'll call our era a 'progressive' one, or that they'll say it was for the 'good of Russia.' Hardly..."
There are numerous reports that have come out lately about the atrocities committed by Stalin, and how many millions upon millions were killed. I don't know a specific book, but I'm sure the info is available.
How about Solzhinitsyn?
And, as an aside, one of the best books I have ever read is about Communist China- "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang. It is the story of 3 generations of Chinese women, the grandmother, who was part of the last traditional generation, the mother, who was a Communist revolutionary, and the daughter, who tells the story, who broke free from the tyranny of communism and moved to England. Fascinating!