In the Kremlin 'Village'; A Stalin biography paints a chilling personal portrait.(Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar)(Book Review)

Byline: Andrew Nagorski

He could ooze charm, plying his comrades with food, booze and anything else they wanted, inquiring about their wives and children, or even phoning his ex-mistresses for soothing chats. He also enjoyed surprising his subjects with random acts of absolution--but only to emphasize the absolute nature of his power. For Joseph Stalin, power was everything. And that meant any favors bestowed could be snatched away at a moment's notice, replaced by mind-numbing horrors. By the time Stalin died in 1953, notes Simon Sebag Montefiore in "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar" (785 pages. Knopf) , 20 million people had been killed and 28 million deported--18 million of whom ended up in the Gulag. It was no accident that Stalin admired Ivan the Terrible, although he made the legendary tsar look almost benevolent by comparison.

What more can be said about a tyrant who has already been the subject of countless biographies? As Montefiore proves, the answer is "a lot." The British author mined the archives and published as well as unpublished memoirs, and interviewed the surviving wives and children of Stalin's henchmen. The result is an incredibly rich, detailed portrait of the man and the members of his inner circle that dwells less on politics than personal behavior that knew no bounds. It's as chilling for its glimpses of ostensible normalcy--Stalin as the concerned father or friend--as for its excruciating descriptions of terror.

Beginning with life in the Kremlin "village," where Politburo members and their families dropped in on each other, partied, gossiped and shamelessly curried favor with the boss, Montefiore chronicles Stalin's routine--his penchant for ...