Simon Sebag Montefiore

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs--and one of our pre-eminent historians and a prizewinning writer--comes an inspiring, horrifying, and accessible collection of short, entertaining, and vivid life stories about the giant characters who have changed the course of world history. These titans of history--encompassing queens, empresses, and actresses, kings, sultans, and conquerors, as well as prophets, artists, courtesans, psychopaths, and explorers--lived lives of astonishing drama, courage and adventure, debauchery and slaughter, virtue and crime. The subjects range widely throughout time and geography from Buddha and Genghis Khan to Nero and Churchill; from Catherine the Great and Anne Frank to Toussaint l'Ouverture and Martin Luther King; from Mozart to Mao; from Jesus Christ and Shakespeare to Einstein and Elvis. Through these lives, Montefiore recounts the most momentous world events--from ancient times to the Crusades, the Holocaust, and the Gulf Wars. These are the historical figures that everyone should know and the stories we should never forget.

Gripping storytelling allied with intimate, unsqueamish knowledge of Russian history - a special combination.' - AD Miller, author of Snowdrops'The gripping final instalment of the Moscow Trilogy tells of a man wrongly imprisoned in the Gulags and his fight for redemption.

The history of the world told through the entertaining, horrifying and inspiring characters that everyone should know

Romanovene tilhørte det driftigste familiedynastiet i moderne tider, med kontroll over en sjettedel av jordens overflate. I sitt storslåtte dokumentarverk forteller Simon Sebag Montefiore historiene til 20 tsarer og tsarinaer. Dette en fortryllende historie om triumf og tragedie, kjærlighet og død, og et helt essensielt portrett av imperiet hvis tid ved makten fremdeles preger dagens Russland.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the national bestselling author of Stalin: An "epic history on the grandest scale" (Financial Times) about the most successful dynasty of modern times, a family who created the world's greatest empire--and then lost it all. "An essential addition to the library of anyone interested in Russian history." --The New York Times Book Review The Romanovs ruled a sixth of the world's surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality intoc the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all? This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance. Drawing on new archival research, Montefiore delivers an enthralling epic of triumph and tragedy, love and murder, that is both a universal study of power and a portrait of empire that helps define Russia today.

The internationally bestselling epic history of Russia's imperial dynasty

A widely acclaimed biography from thebestselling author of The Romanovs: "One of the great love stories of history" (The Economist) between Catherine the Great and the wildly flamboyant and talented Prince Potemkin. - "Captures the genius of two extraordinary Enlightenment figures--and of the age as well." --The Wall Street Journal Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these "twin souls" never stopped loving each other. Drawing on the pair's intimate letters and on vast research, Simon Sebag Montefiore restores these imperial partners to their rightful place as titans of their age. "Biography in the grand tradition... Riveting... The author is] a gifted storyteller." --The Washington Post

Hvis barna dine ble tvunget til å vitne mot deg, hvilke grusomme hemmeligheter ville de avsløre? Moskva 1945. Mens Stalin og hans menn feirer seieren over Hitler, høres skudd. På en bro i nærheten ligger to tenåringer, en jente og en gutt, døde. Men dette er ikke noen tragedie i vanlig forstand, og det er heller ikke snakk om vanlige tenåringer, men barn av Russlands viktigste ledere som går på en eksklusiv skole i Moskva. Er det drap? En selvmordspakt? Eller en konspirasjon mot staten? Styrt av Stalin selv, begynner en etterforskning der barn blir arrestert og tvunget til å vitne mot sine foreldre. Denne skremmende heksejakten vil raskt avsløre ulovlige kjærlighetsforhold og familiehemmeligheter i en skjult verden der den minste feil blir straffet med døden. «Et neglebitende drama […] Montefiore skriver briljant om kjærlighet, tidløse problemstillinger, familieliv, tenåringskjærlighet og det å bli voksen. Lesere av Sebastian Faulks og Hilary Mantel vil glede seg over denne.» Mail on Sunday

Den vakre og viljesterke overklassepiken Sashenka Zeitlin sniker seg som 16-åring ut om natten for å hjelpe sine kamerater med å forberede den kommende revolusjonen. Tjue år senere har hun to barn og er gift med Vanja, en mektig mann i Stalins regjering. Da Sashenka innleder et forbudt kjærlighetsforhold, settes en kjede av hendelser i gang. De stiller henne overfor hennes livs vanskeligste valg. Sasjenka er en roman om kjærlighet, familie, forræderi og revolusjon.

â?? An epic adventure story set against the most awful war in history. Ridiculously goodâ?? Dan SnowIf your children were forced to testify against you, what terrible secrets would they reveal? Moscow 1945.

FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED FOR 2024NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL BOOK OF THE YEAR "Spectacular. Montefiore] really tells you what the life of the city has been like and why it means so much. You fall in love with the city. It's a treasure. It's a wonderful book." --Bill Clinton "Impossible to put down. . . . Vastly enjoyable." --The New York Times Book ReviewThe history of Jerusalem is the story of the world: Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths. The Holy City and Holy Land are the battlefields for today's multifaceted conflicts and, for believers, the setting for Judgment Day and the Apocalypse. How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the "center of the world" and now the key to peace in the Middle East? Why is the Holy Land so important not just to the region and its many new players, but to the wider world too? Drawing on new archives and a lifetime's study, Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city and turbulent region through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the kings, empresses, amirs, sultans, caliphs, presidents, autocrats, imperialists and warlords, poets, prophets, saints and rabbis who created, destroyed, chronicled, and believed in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. A classic of modern literature, this is not only the epic story of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism, co-existence, power and myth, but also a freshly updated, carefully balanced history of the Middle East, from King David to the new powers of the twenty-first century, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict. This is how today's Middle East was forged, how the Holy Land became sacred and how Jerusalem became Jerusalem--the only city that exists twice--in heaven and on earth. "Magnificent. . . . Montefiore barely misses a trick or a character intaking us through the city's story with compelling, breathless tension." --The Wall Street Journal

Jerusalem er en verdensby, hovedstad for to folk og helligdom for tre store verdensreligioner. Byen har vært et trofe for erobrere, åsted for dommedag og slagmark for vår tids sammenstøt mellom sivilisasjonene. Den storslåtte historien om 3000 år med tro, massakre, fanatisme og sameksistens beveger seg fra kong David til Barack Obama, fra jødedommen, kristendommen og islams fødsel til Israel–Palestina-konflikten. Gjennom sin fengslende beretning viser Simon Sebag Montefiore en by i kontinuerlig forandring, og gir liv til hver epoke så vel som de mange personene han skildrer. Byens biografi er fortalt gjennom kampen, lidenskapen og historien til de menn og kvinner – konger og keiserinner, profeter og poeter, helgener, erobrere og skjøger – som skapte, ødela, skrev om og trodde på Jerusalem. Et persongalleri som spenner fra Salomo, Saladin og Suleiman den store til Kleopatra, Caligula og Churchill, fra Abraham til Jesus og Muhammad, fra Herodes og Nero i oldtidens verden, til nyere tids Disraeli, Mark Twain, Rasputin og Lawrence of Arabia. Med utgangspunkt i nye kilder og studier gjennom et helt liv har Montefiore skrevet en unik krønike om byen.

Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today's clash of civilisations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. How did this remote town become the Holy City, the 'centre of the world' and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem's biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women - kings, empresses, conquerors, saints and whores - who created, destroyed and chronicled Jerusalem, as well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who left their mark on the city. Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime's study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.

Sasjenka er en historisk roman om kjærlighet, familie, forræderi og revolusjon. Den vakre og viljesterke overklassepiken Sashenka Zeitlin, sniker seg som 16-åring ut om natten for å hjelpe sine kamerater med å forberede den kommende revolusjonen. Tjue år senere har hun to barn og er gift med Vanja, en mektig mann i Stalins regjering. Da Sashenka innleder et forbudt kjærlighetsforhold, settes en kjede av hendelser i gang. De stiller henne overfor hennes livs vanskeligste valg.

Winter, 1916. In St Petersburg, snow is falling in a country on the brink of revolution. Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and her dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her role in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction. Twenty years on, Sashenka has a powerful husband and two children. Around her people are disappearing but her own family is safe. But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair which will have devastating consequences. Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heart-breaking story of passion and betrayal, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism - and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice ...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs--and one of our pre-eminent historians--comes "a meticulously researched, authoritative biography" (The New York Times), the companion volume to the prize-winning Stalin, and essential reading for anyone interested in Russian history. This revelatory account unveils how Stalin became Stalin, examining his shadowy journey from obscurity to power--from master historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. Based on ten years of research, Young Stalin is a brilliant prehistory of the USSR, a chronicle of the Revolution, and an intimate biography. Montefiore tells the story of a charismatic, darkly turbulent boy born into poverty, scarred by his upbringing but possessed of unusual talents. Admired as a romantic poet and trained as a priest, he found his true mission as a murderous revolutionary. Here is the dramatic story of his friendships and hatreds, his many love affairs, his complicated relationship with the Tsarist secret police, and how he became the merciless politician who shaped the Soviet Empire in his own brutal image.

Den unge Stalin forteller den forbløffende og eventyrlige historien om en eksepsjonell og voldelig ung mann. Historien om hvordan Josef Vissarionovitsj Dzugasjvili ble Stalin, er like spennende som en thriller. Født inn i fattigdom og preget av sin tøffe oppvekst, var Stalin likevel en flink student som utdannet seg til prest. Den karismatiske unggutten forlot religionen og fant til slutt sin misjon som fanatisk revolusjonær. Han var mesterhjernen bak bankran, brannstiftelser, piratvirksomhet og mord, en halvstudert røver i ordets rette forstand. Og en aktiv kvinneforfører som etterlot seg mange elskerinner og uekte barn. Han var en konspirator av rang og imponerte Lenin med sin brutale oppfinnsomhet. Forfatter Simon Sebag Montefiore viser hvordan forbrytervirksomhet og politisk terror kombinert med nådeløs ideologi, brakte Stalin helt til topps i Kreml. Forfatteren av den internasjonale bestselgeren Stalin - Den røde tsarens hoff (2006) har nå skrevet et nytt baenbrytende verk. Den unge Stalin er en fengslende biografi som avdekker den utrolige historien om hvordan en skomakersønn fra Georgia ble den røde tsar - en politiker og massemorder.

Josef Stalin brukte sjarm og list for å komme i posisjon etter Lenins død, og manipulerte menneskene rundt seg for å få gradvis mer makt. Simon Sebag Montefiores biografi viser hvordan livet artet seg på toppen av hierarkiet, med vekt på årene fra Stalin ble leder i 1929 til han døde i 1953, etter et stadig mer paranoid og grusomt styre.