Lenin

October 15, 2017
An illuminating new biography of the cold, calculating ruler on whom the subsequent Soviet state modeled itself. "Secretive, suspicious, intolerant, acetic, intemperate." Such is the essence of the portrait of his subject that Budapest-born journalist Sebestyen (1946: The Making of the Modern World, 2015, etc.) extracts from the considerable record. The author does not overwhelm with detail, and he focuses especially on how Lenin's most important relationships were with women, such as his mother, his wife, Nadya, and his mistress, Inessa Armand. From his beginnings as a brilliant youth to his maturation as a driving, relentless intellectual whose favored method of leadership was merciless carping, Lenin was consistently concerned with the nitty-gritty of power and how to attain it. He was also criticized for fleeing from trouble, as he believed he was too important to the struggle to get arrested. Radicalized at the age of 18 after the "violent drama" of his beloved older brother Sasha's execution by the czar's police force in 1887 for attempting to assassinate the czar, Vladimir Ulyanov, as he was then known, "was heir to a long tradition of revolutionary opposition to the Tsars." Prohibited from studying at university, sent briefly to Siberia, closely monitored by the czar's police state, the Okhrana (from which Lenin's Cheka would subsequently and ironically derive its model), and largely supported in every way by his mother and wife, Lenin moved about in exile honing the revolutionary message. Although not as eloquent a writer as Marx or Trotsky, Lenin created a style of argument altogether his own; as the author writes, "he was nearly always domineering, abusive, combative and often downright vicious." Operating brutally but haphazardly, rather than by a truly coordinated effort, and not averse to using a "criminal gang" to steal on the party's behalf, Lenin prevailed by sheer force of will. Sebestyen ably captures the man, "the kind of demagogue familiar to us in Western democracies." A compelling, cleareyed portrait of a dictator whose politics have unfortunate relevance for today.

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Starred review from October 1, 2017
Incensed after reading articles lauding him as a genius, Lenin fumed against the glorification of one personality. In this insightful biography, Sebestyen examines the brilliant but ruthless personality whom journalists glorified and shows why the dictatorial government that Lenin imposed on his country made a nationwide cult of personality inevitable. Readers explore the complexities of that personality: sophisticated intellectual and shameless demagogue, cerebral logician and emotional rageaholic, sensitive lover of music and callous murderer. But no complexities will fascinate readers more than those characterizing Lenin's tangled relationships with the women who influenced him. Taking readers deep into a marriage that previous biographers have dismissed as merely functional, Sebestyen illuminates moments of real tendernessand of painful tensionas Lenin succumbs to the charms of a beautiful emigre, whom he makes his mistress without abandoning his wife. Lenin's handling of rivals comes into focus in a different context when Sebestyen analyzes the ways the dictator advances his agenda by playing the scintillating Trotsky against the ruthless Stalin. Readers see a great historical tragedy play out, however, as Russia's dying Red Tsar leaves his most bloody-minded lieutenant in prime position to take over the brutal police state he has forged. A compelling portrait of an epoch-making figure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2017

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) had a populistic style that helped him gain political advantage in many situations. Here, journalist Sebestyen (Revolution 1989) attempts to show that the Russian communist leader was not a revolutionary by definition; rather, he was someone who happened to be close to the revolution. To create the first comprehensive study of Lenin in two decades, the author has gathered sources from diaries, letters, and personal papers that provide extraordinary detail about Lenin's personal life, including his relationships with his wife and mistress. Also described are the momentous decisions of the 1917 Russian Revolution, such as the decision to murder Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Lenin later become known for his challenges to intellectual freedom and purging libraries of books that were considered unacceptable. VERDICT This well-documented work will satisfy amateur and professional historians alike.--Harry Willems, Great Bend P.L., KS

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2017

Budapest-born Sebestyen, a veteran journalist who reported extensively on the collapse of communism and the breakups of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, gives backstory to the significant events of the 20th century by turning in what is reportedly the first big biography of Lenin in two decades. Sebestyen explains how Lenin emerged from a backward and oppressive regime to produce his own brand of oppression, becoming "a mirror image of the Romanov autocracy" while also discussing his relationships with his wife and mistress, presenting a portrait of the man and not just the politician.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.