false 6076769 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 6076769 9 6253355 12 5 2009 The Stalin Epigram: A Novel total:43|5:9|4:12|3:18|2:1|1:3| 43 152 107 20 101398 3.83 987 155 70613548 2373480 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 0 0 false Wed Sep 09 11:26:16 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 11:26:16 -0700 2009
Words can never hurt me?
Review by Thane Tierney

Not since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich has an author captured the crushing sense of foreboding that hung over Uncle Joe's Soviet state with the clear-eyed acuity that im...more...]]> 59202679 2250822 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 16:38:42 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 17:30:52 -0700 2009 1
It was a time of tremendous activity by the State Organs, ever vigilant...more...]]> 71910421 1769601 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 4 0 false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 15:09:58 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 10:46:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 58049305 1008236 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 4 0 false Mon Jun 01 07:23:09 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 08:11:29 -0700 2009 Critics agree that The Stalin Epigram is a powerful novel. Littell, who met with Osip's wife in 1979 and recorded the story of his imprisonment and death, tells a harrowing, almost absurdist tale of imprisonment, exile, and death in the Soviet state. Turning from his Soviet spy thrillers, Littell pr...

more...]]> 57649951 234890 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 14:11:06 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 09:08:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 69288872 2431043 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 20:07:11 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 07:47:30 -0700 2009 It's a very interesting fictionaized account of one of Russia's great poets, Osip Mandelstam, during the 1930's when Stalin crushed all free expression and decreed that the arts should serve only the purpose of the co...more...]]> 55861184 1229019 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Wed May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 17:16:09 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 21:09:48 -0700 2009
Osip Mandelstam's life takes a decisive turn when he decides to "stop beating around the bush" and tell the truth about the horrors of Stalinist Russia; Anna Ahkmatova, Boris Pasternak, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Stalin and several other charact...more...]]> 60935690 739853 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 4 0 false Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 10:34:11 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 10:37:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 74824370 204702 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Sat Oct 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 10:01:55 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 10:04:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 58473047 2045834 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 1 0 false Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 17:25:04 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 13:49:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 60512291 658061 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 09:08:33 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 09:11:34 -0700 2009 58620603 2140505 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 22:29:11 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 22:18:02 -0700 2009 1 The Company, but I do think he's topped himself with his latest, The Stalin Epigram. Littell brings to life the characters that surrounded the poet Osip Mandelstam, as well as the very justified paranoia of Stalinist Russia. Excellent historic...more...]]> 59123180 1076961 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 04:22:50 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 15:35:42 -0700 2009
Littell does a pretty good job of capturing the cadence of Russian lit (or as it soun...more...]]> 69232004 1824927 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 11:44:32 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 12:26:18 -0700 2009 81984109 2372011 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 1 0 false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Dec 24 20:43:39 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 24 20:47:39 -0800 2009 67090579 412947 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Wed Aug 12 10:11:30 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 10:12:31 -0700 2009 58888605 166384 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 4 0 false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 12:58:34 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 13:01:32 -0700 2009 75183597 2353206 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Tue Oct 20 17:57:50 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 17:58:41 -0700 2009 65485091 237381 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 5 0 false Wed Jul 29 19:58:48 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 20:02:24 -0700 2009 58323253 37846 6076769 1416598642 9781416598640 20 <![CDATA[The Stalin Epigram: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-m-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/60/769/6076769-s-1255682980.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6076769.The_Stalin_Epigram_A_Novel 3.53 43 The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation -- reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists.

Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did?

Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

]]> 2009 3 0 false Fri Jul 03 13:15:34 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 13:36:28 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 13:15:34 -0700 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6076769