Last Days of Stalin

A gripping account of the months before and after Stalin`s death and how his demise reshaped the course of twentieth-century history Joshua Rubenstein`s riveting account takes us back to the second half of 1952 when no one could foresee an end to Joseph Stalin`s murderous regime. He was poised to challenge the newly elected U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower with armed force, and was also broadening a vicious campaign against Soviet Jews. Stalin`s sudden collapse and death in March 1953 was as dramatic and mysterious as his life. It is no overstatement to say that his passing marked a major turning point in the twentieth century. The Last Days of Stalin is an engaging, briskly told account of the dictator`s final active months, the vigil at his deathbed, and the unfolding of Soviet and international events in the months after his death.