Moscow, 1937

Moscow, 1937: the soviet metropolis at the zenith of Stalin’sdictatorship. A society utterly wrecked by a hurricane ofviolence. In this compelling book, the renowned historian Karl Schlögelreconstructs with meticulous care the process through which, monthby month, the terrorism of a state-of-emergency regime spiraledinto the ‘Great Terror’ during which 1 ½ millionhuman beings lost their lives within a single year. He revisits thesites of show trials and executions and, by also consultingnumerous sources from the time, he provides a masterful panorama ofthese key events in Russian history.He shows how, in the shadow of the reign of terror, the regimearound Stalin also aimed to construct a new society. Based oncountless documents, Schlögel’s historical masterpiecevividly presents an age in which the boundaries separating thedream and the terror dissolve, and enables us to experience thefear that was felt by people subjected to totalitarian rule. Thisrich and absorbing account of the Soviet purges will be essentialreading for all students of Russia and for any readers interestedin one of the most dramatic and disturbing events of modernhistory.