Russia's War: Blood Upon the Snow (1995)
Russia's War: Blood Upon the Snow (1995) Superb history of the Stalin years (1924-1953), drawing heavily on Soviet sources and survivors. Stalin's power-obsessive ruthlessness is documented in his elimination of at least 10 million civilians before the Nazi invasion. Twenty-five million wartime dead is a testimonial to the resilience of the Soviet heartland. Especially poignant, for me, was the pathos and quiet heroics of the siege of Leningrad (including the remarkable performance of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony, and the post-war reprise for the few surviving musicians and audience members), told earlier in Harrison Salisbury's stunning The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad(1969).
