Donald Rayfield Bücher

Ein Genozid unvorstellbaren Ausmaßes wird durch die Öffnung von Archiven des Politbüros, des KGB und anderer Institutionen des untergegangenen Sowjetreichs für Wissenschaftler sichtbar. Donald Rayfield gewinnt neue Erkenntnisse über Stalin und seine Henker – Dserschinski, Menschinski, Jagoda, Jeschow, Berija und deren Komplizen. Das Ergebnis ist ein beklemmendes Porträt einer Epoche, die vom Vorabend der Oktoberrevolution bis zur Exekution Berijas im Dezember 1953 reicht, in der ein skrupelloses Regime gegen das eigene Volk wütete. Der 20. Parteitag der KPdSU im Februar 1956 brachte eine radikale Abrechnung mit Stalin und dem Stalinismus durch Nikita Chruschtschow, doch die Enthüllungen über die Gräueltaten waren damals noch unvollständig. Erst durch den Zugang zu den Archiven wurde das volle Ausmaß der Gräuel sichtbar. Rayfield porträtiert in intensiven Studien eines der düstersten Kapitel der Sowjetgeschichte und stellt Stalin und seine Henker mit prägnanten Biographien vor – eine Chronologie des Terrors. Er beschreibt nicht nur das brutale und banale Leben der Täter, sondern bietet auch ausführliche Exkurse zur Geschichte der UdSSR. Die Hungersnöte, die Zerschlagung des Bauernstandes, die Ermordung der alten Herrscherschicht, die Schauprozesse, die Enthauptung der Roten Armee und die Deportation von Dissidenten werden mit konkretem Material geschildert. Rayfield registriert bestürzt, dass der Terror dieser barbarischen

A masterpiece of 20th-century Russian literature—now in its first complete English translation “One of the greatest Russian writers of short stories” chronicles life in a Soviet gulag, drawing on his own years in a USSR prison camp and laying bare the perils of totalitarianism (Financial Times). Kolyma Stories is a masterpiece of twentieth-century literature, an epic array of short fictional tales reflecting the fifteen years that Varlam Shalamov spent in the Soviet Gulag. This is the first of two volumes (the second to appear in 2019) that together will constitute the first complete English translation of Shalamov’s stories and the only one to be based on the authorized Russian text. Shalamov spent six years as a slave in the gold mines of Kolyma before finding a less intolerable life as a paramedic in the prison camps. He began writing his account of life in Kolyma after Stalin’s death in 1953. His stories are at once the biography of a rare survivor, a historical record of the Gulag, and a literary work of unparalleled creative power, insight, and conviction.

Nikolay Przhevalsky, a renowned Russian explorer, undertook four perilous expeditions across Central Asia, including Western Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and Northern Tibet. His journeys significantly enriched global atlases and expanded knowledge in zoology and botany. This book chronicles his adventurous life and the lasting impact of his explorations on scientific understanding.

Designed to enhance the understanding of those who read Chekhov's stories or watch his plays. This book aims to reveal the levels of meaning and intention, the interpretations that can be made, and to bring out Chekhov's many connections to European prose and drama.

Chekhov's complex legacy as a beloved yet elusive Russian writer is explored through Donald Rayfield's examination of his brief but impactful career. The book delves into Chekhov's evolution from a medical student to a pivotal figure in twentieth-century drama and prose. Insights from previously unexplored archival materials illuminate his creative sources, philosophical concerns, and interactions with contemporaries, enhancing the understanding of his work and its significance in literature and theater.

Stalin, like Hitler and other tyrants, won and held power because he had collaborators - hangmen. Drawing on newly released archival material, Donald Rayfield gives us a fuller and more colourful picture of Stalin's inner circle than ever before. Stalin was not the sole author of Stalinism.

Now available in paperback, this is the first comprehensive history of Georgia for decades, focusing not only on the post-Soviet era but on the full sweep of its turbulent past.

The great Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-1888) made an indelible contribution to the world's atlases, and its store of zoological and botanical knowledge, as a consequence of his four arduous and dangerous expeditions through the Central Asia of Western Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan and Northern Tibet.

Six meters (50MHz) - the "magic band" - has always been unique. Sometimes it behaves as an HF band, with world-wide propagation, and other times more like a VHF band, enjoying the benefits of meteor scatter and Sporadic E. Operating 6 meters is both a challenge and an enigma, it draws amateurs from both the VHF and HF communities. Similar to this fascinating band is Four meters (70MHz).