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HISTORY Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Knopf, April 2004. $30
This is a most implausible and frustrating piece of work. The author evidently set out to write simultaneously an ambitious academic monograph and a sensationalistic best-seller. he acknowledges the advice and/or assistance-genuine gratitude or borrowed dignity?-of dozens of authorities in the field. he cites interviews with members of the family and members of what he designates as the "Kremlin family," i.e., those...