Books by Svetlana Alliluyeva
“Stalin had three children, but the one he was closest to when she was young was Svetlana. She was born in 1926, so there are many early pictures of her with him and other members of the Politburo, out at the dacha, and so on. Her mother died by her own hand—evidently after a quarrel with Stalin—when Svetlana was about six. The Letters are written after Stalin’s death, but also after Khrushchev’s dethronement of Stalin in 1956, when he criticized the excesses of Stalinism. Svetlana herself shares these criticisms. But she still loves her father, though she was estranged from him in adult life, mainly. For her, he’s a very problematic father, but also a beloved one.” Read more...
The best books on The Soviet Union
Sheila Fitzpatrick, Historian
Interviews where books by Svetlana Alliluyeva were recommended
The best books on The Soviet Union, recommended by Sheila Fitzpatrick
The Soviet Union was the world’s first communist country and lasted around seven decades. It played a key role in defeating Nazism in Europe and became a global superpower before collapsing unexpectedly in 1991. Sheila Fitzpatrick, a leading historian of the Soviet Union, recommends books that bring to life different aspects of it, from forced labour in Glavnoye Upravleniye LAGerey (GULAG) to the heady days of the Khrushchev thaw and including the memoir of Stalin’s beloved daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva.
