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Red Star over Russia: A Visual History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Death of Stalin
Through an array of posters, photographs, paintings, magazines, book jackets, advertisements, pamphlets and other rare ephemera, this book tells the story of the Soviet Union, from the Russian Revolution to the death of Stalin.
352 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 22, 2012
David King’s sumptuous visual history of the Soviet Union is an outstanding fusion of the graphic reference work and the compelling historical account. Its blend of superb photography, creative and influential agitprop and art that was so avant-garde it could have qualified as reconnaissance, leaves you almost overwhelmed. Where to begin you ask yourself as you leaf through 350 pages filled with images that sharpen your curiosity and demand your immediate attention. Well, here’s my advice … begin at the beginning; then after a few minutes stop and spin the pages until something catches your eye; repeat that last action a few more times and abracadabra, you’re hooked.
If however you’re a big fan of structure then there’s a linear narrative to be had, beginning with the October revolution of 1917 and progressing to the death, in 1953, of the blood soaked red Tsar, Josef Stalin. The text accompanying the images is crammed into narrow columns and this efficient use of space allows King to maximise the word count in his narrative, and boy does he make good use of it. The information imparted is pertinent and fascinating; detailed yet concise; and a cool analytical detachment is maintained that gives the book a scholarly air. All the main elements of soviet life and iconography are here, from the good; Sergei Eisenstein, Constructivism, Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism; to the bad; the wars, the famines, the secret police and the whole rotten inevitability of totalitarianism when it is allowed to hold sway over a people’s lives for decade after decade.
Sometimes the book is beautiful. Beauty is found in the faces of ordinary people, captured in a single moment of their lives, at a time and in a place where photography is still rare. And it is found in the riot of colour and shapes in images so abstract that they seem to have decoupled themselves from the horror of the government that has inadvertently sponsored their birth. But sometimes the book is dark, very dark indeed.
On pages 281-282 we discover two crisp well taken photographs, opposite one another, each filling its page. On the left is a dishevelled, frightened looking man in late middle age – he is the famous, avant-garde theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold and he has just been arrested by the secret police, the NKVD. Across from him is his wife, the beautiful actress Zinaida Raikh, her soulful dark eyes gazing out at you from across the decades. The accompanying text bears witness to the true character of the soviet state. It contains within it a letter from Meyerhold, written in captivity, kept in his case file and addressed to Foreign Minister Molotov (it is unknown as to whether or not it was sent). In it Meyerhold details the horrific torture he endured at the hands of his NKVD interrogators. It is harrowing and very hard to read, but even this is eclipsed when you read on and discover the fate of his wife Zinaida, who one week after his arrest was murdered in their Moscow flat by the secret police. They gouged her eyes out. Less than a year later Meyerhold was himself executed. It’s at times like this in the book that you’re glad of King’s analytical prose style.
If I have one criticism it’s that I felt the book could have used another 10 or so pages to properly set up the conditions in Russia in the decade before the revolution. However that aside this is a must for all students of Russian/Soviet history and it will also appeal to anyone with a love of the visual and an interest in the past.
If however you’re a big fan of structure then there’s a linear narrative to be had, beginning with the October revolution of 1917 and progressing to the death, in 1953, of the blood soaked red Tsar, Josef Stalin. The text accompanying the images is crammed into narrow columns and this efficient use of space allows King to maximise the word count in his narrative, and boy does he make good use of it. The information imparted is pertinent and fascinating; detailed yet concise; and a cool analytical detachment is maintained that gives the book a scholarly air. All the main elements of soviet life and iconography are here, from the good; Sergei Eisenstein, Constructivism, Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism; to the bad; the wars, the famines, the secret police and the whole rotten inevitability of totalitarianism when it is allowed to hold sway over a people’s lives for decade after decade.
Sometimes the book is beautiful. Beauty is found in the faces of ordinary people, captured in a single moment of their lives, at a time and in a place where photography is still rare. And it is found in the riot of colour and shapes in images so abstract that they seem to have decoupled themselves from the horror of the government that has inadvertently sponsored their birth. But sometimes the book is dark, very dark indeed.
On pages 281-282 we discover two crisp well taken photographs, opposite one another, each filling its page. On the left is a dishevelled, frightened looking man in late middle age – he is the famous, avant-garde theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold and he has just been arrested by the secret police, the NKVD. Across from him is his wife, the beautiful actress Zinaida Raikh, her soulful dark eyes gazing out at you from across the decades. The accompanying text bears witness to the true character of the soviet state. It contains within it a letter from Meyerhold, written in captivity, kept in his case file and addressed to Foreign Minister Molotov (it is unknown as to whether or not it was sent). In it Meyerhold details the horrific torture he endured at the hands of his NKVD interrogators. It is harrowing and very hard to read, but even this is eclipsed when you read on and discover the fate of his wife Zinaida, who one week after his arrest was murdered in their Moscow flat by the secret police. They gouged her eyes out. Less than a year later Meyerhold was himself executed. It’s at times like this in the book that you’re glad of King’s analytical prose style.
If I have one criticism it’s that I felt the book could have used another 10 or so pages to properly set up the conditions in Russia in the decade before the revolution. However that aside this is a must for all students of Russian/Soviet history and it will also appeal to anyone with a love of the visual and an interest in the past.
August 7, 2018
Red Star Over Russia is visually stunning, with many rare and fascinating pictures that stay with you. Maybe more pictures of Trotsky than were strictly necessary.
July 5, 2010
I really liked this book, and liked the style.
King focuses a lot on the show trials to the exclusion of other aspects of Soviet life, and his admiration for Trotsky shines through a bit too much.
It also feels as though he ignores some of the more sensational aspects of the Soviet regime, such as Beria's reign of terror, perhaps not as a way to avoid those issues, he certainly mentions them several times in the captions, but in ignoring those things he makes the overall narrative of the book more reliant on a certain Soviet aethestic instead of a true visual history. The reader is given a rare shot of a Soviet labor camp, but not a greater explanation or context to put that aspect of the regime in its proper place.
One explanation might be the voluminous catalog King claims to have, perhaps he selected what he thought were the best pieces of his collection and worked backwards instead of really assessing the dozen major things that ought to have been visually addressed and filling in the gaps accordingly.
It's probably no easy task to build a visual history from a totalitarian state so intent on telling its own history, but in omitting certain aspects, and highlighting people and pieces like Trotsky, it seems as though Red Star Over Russia loses its potential impact to really cover the ground it promises.
King focuses a lot on the show trials to the exclusion of other aspects of Soviet life, and his admiration for Trotsky shines through a bit too much.
It also feels as though he ignores some of the more sensational aspects of the Soviet regime, such as Beria's reign of terror, perhaps not as a way to avoid those issues, he certainly mentions them several times in the captions, but in ignoring those things he makes the overall narrative of the book more reliant on a certain Soviet aethestic instead of a true visual history. The reader is given a rare shot of a Soviet labor camp, but not a greater explanation or context to put that aspect of the regime in its proper place.
One explanation might be the voluminous catalog King claims to have, perhaps he selected what he thought were the best pieces of his collection and worked backwards instead of really assessing the dozen major things that ought to have been visually addressed and filling in the gaps accordingly.
It's probably no easy task to build a visual history from a totalitarian state so intent on telling its own history, but in omitting certain aspects, and highlighting people and pieces like Trotsky, it seems as though Red Star Over Russia loses its potential impact to really cover the ground it promises.
March 11, 2010
"Red Flag Over Russia", celebrates graphic art from the 1917 revolution to the death of Stalin. There are many images that command attention, but there is one that especially remains indelibly etched in my mind. It is a warm, softly focused, sepia toned print of six young men closely sitting together. They are bathed in an ethereal, diffused light that filters through a near by window, connoting a kind of confident serenity. Were they brothers? Or maybe a tight knit group of university students? They were the executioners of Czar Nicholas and his family. After shooting the Czar and Czarina, they bayonetted their four young children Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga and Maria and then shot them in head at close range. The photograph, -incongruent, unsettling, but yet like most of the art work in this book, beautifully composed. The images exemplify the strange dichotomy of using fine art to disseminate lies and propaganda.
December 30, 2016
The Communists always did have the best posters. Nothing can quite match the distinctive style of soviet art and for this reason I really did like this book. However as a visual history it is a bit flawed.
This book is unbalanced. The author's obsession with Trotsky may have contributed to this. Perhaps it would have been wiser to focus the book on the early years of the revolution or to publish a separate collection of Trotsky memorabilia.
This book is unbalanced. The author's obsession with Trotsky may have contributed to this. Perhaps it would have been wiser to focus the book on the early years of the revolution or to publish a separate collection of Trotsky memorabilia.
March 15, 2020
Excellent book! Beautiful tome which mainly comprises of great quality, and many rare photographs from the David King collection. It also has lucid text explaining in detail what the photograph is, who took it and interesting background information relating to the image. For someone interested in this period of Russian history this will be an absorbing book to look through and bring to life people, places and events they might previously have just read about.
Some of the photos are very moving and dramatic: covering the revolution, the Civil War, the horrors of the 2nd World War and the Stalin era. Photos of the terrors of the war years and the haunted expressions of the victims of Stalin's show trials are just a few that linger in the memory.
The book is also a valuable resource too in looking at the myriad of Soviet era artwork eg propaganda leaflets and posters.
Enjoyed looking through the book, highly recommended.
Some of the photos are very moving and dramatic: covering the revolution, the Civil War, the horrors of the 2nd World War and the Stalin era. Photos of the terrors of the war years and the haunted expressions of the victims of Stalin's show trials are just a few that linger in the memory.
The book is also a valuable resource too in looking at the myriad of Soviet era artwork eg propaganda leaflets and posters.
Enjoyed looking through the book, highly recommended.
October 22, 2017
Ostensibly an art book, Red Star over Russia is more of an intimate look at the leaders, artwork, design, and ordinary citizens during the peak of the Soviet Union. So many collections such as this just contain images with scant captions: King's work features contextual copy that drives this work to excellence.
May 3, 2020
I wish I'd read this at the height of my Russia-mania, when it was bought for me, rather than feeling guilty about letting it languish on my shelves. It's a very interesting and beautiful book, but I could have done with more background information as I'm not particularly well-versed in Russian history.
November 4, 2017
Zeer interessant!
February 15, 2021
Another book to dip into
February 11, 2022
Fantastic
December 26, 2022
I only meant to dip into it. 5 hours later, I've read it (and pored over its astonishing images) cover to cover. Hope, horror, propaganda, tragedy. What a book.
September 8, 2024
Jeez OK Stalin = bad man? I get it?
March 30, 2025
One of my favourite books. Great collection of photography and art from the USSR
October 12, 2022
Una raccolta straordinaria di foto, immagini, poster e manifesti dell'Unione Sovietica dalla rivoluzione d'Ottobre del 1917 alla morte di Stalin. Le didascalie sono sempre efficaci e interessanti. Un ottimo modo per "vedere" la storia.
May 24, 2011
Beautiful, comprehensive and jammed with so much information (in very small type), it's probably the only book to ever give me museum fatigue.
If you're looking for visual reference material, regardless of whether or not you're interested Russian history, this is an amazing resource.
However, reader beware, the stunning graphic design shares the pages with many, many photos of pure horror. In fact, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that it includes one of the most existentially horrifying photos I've ever seen, depicted in which is the hanging of Partisans in Minsk, Belarus. Oh, right. Then there's that true gem with the starving, sour-faced Ukrainians selling body parts during the famine.
So, in summation, it's an amazing, priceless collection of early to middle 20th century Russian graphic design alongside photographs whose subject matter will haunt your thoughts and dreams ever after.
If you're looking for visual reference material, regardless of whether or not you're interested Russian history, this is an amazing resource.
However, reader beware, the stunning graphic design shares the pages with many, many photos of pure horror. In fact, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that it includes one of the most existentially horrifying photos I've ever seen, depicted in which is the hanging of Partisans in Minsk, Belarus. Oh, right. Then there's that true gem with the starving, sour-faced Ukrainians selling body parts during the famine.
So, in summation, it's an amazing, priceless collection of early to middle 20th century Russian graphic design alongside photographs whose subject matter will haunt your thoughts and dreams ever after.
July 8, 2025
Featured in my April 2025 Wrap-up video
This book had me mesmerised from start to finish. Some of the imagery is incredibly moving, particularly the war scenes. This is a fascinating collection of pictures and posters from an important period in European history. Stalin's rise to power was well covered and gave a real insight into his rise and paranoia. Anyone with even a passing interest in this region will find this book fascinating I'm quite sure. As it says in one of the testimonials, buy two—one for yourself and one to give away. I was going to give my copy to a friend when I was done, but I want to keep mine so I'll have to buy another for him.
This book had me mesmerised from start to finish. Some of the imagery is incredibly moving, particularly the war scenes. This is a fascinating collection of pictures and posters from an important period in European history. Stalin's rise to power was well covered and gave a real insight into his rise and paranoia. Anyone with even a passing interest in this region will find this book fascinating I'm quite sure. As it says in one of the testimonials, buy two—one for yourself and one to give away. I was going to give my copy to a friend when I was done, but I want to keep mine so I'll have to buy another for him.
October 24, 2016
"Red Star Over Russia is a breathtaking visual history of the Soviet Union, from 1917 to the death of Stalin. It's urgent, cinema-vérité style plunges the reader into the center of the shattering events that brought hope, chaos, heroism and horror to the citizens of the world's first workers' state."
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"David King's Red Star Over Russia, a partnership of text and pictures, delivers an icon of the Soviet era, done with an artist's eye by a master of the archives."
-Karl Miller, Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year, 2009
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"David King's Red Star Over Russia, a partnership of text and pictures, delivers an icon of the Soviet era, done with an artist's eye by a master of the archives."
-Karl Miller, Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year, 2009
February 14, 2014
The photos chosen are mostly pretty good, it just didn't really grab me. It sort of avoids art mostly outside of designs on journals and propaganda posters so the art is not super top quality. The choice of photos also avoids photos of every day life mostly and there's few photos of major events and buildings and stuff so it's sort of a weird mix that just didn't appeal to me. Also the view of Soviet history is a bit naff but that's typical.
I recommend this if you're interested in the art of the period at all, just didn't really grab me
I recommend this if you're interested in the art of the period at all, just didn't really grab me
May 27, 2013
A superb visual companion to the history of the Soviet Union with excellent informative commentary by King accompanying the images. The photographs bring the period hauntingly back to life and the graphic art illustrations are captivating. My only criticism is the paucity of material on the Ukrainian holodomor and the Gulags - both immensely significant for an understanding of Soviet history. That aside, the book is outstanding.
September 3, 2016
An extraordinary chronicle of 20th century Russia through pamphlets, posters, magazine pull outs and more -- well worth the price of admission. I enjoy reading this particular transitional chapter of Russian history and King provides a more than sufficient balance between straight research and a more lovingly assembled art book. His work in putting the book together was assuredly grueling and it shows, everything is documented and everything is cited, meticulously.
October 24, 2012
Nothing I can add to the great reviews before me. A fantastic photographic history of the Soviet Union, capturing ordinary and extraordinary events, people, propaganda, and everything in between. A MUST-READ supplement to those who have a deep interest in the history of the Soviet Union - it brings your knowledge to life and adds the important visual dimension.
July 12, 2009
Stunning visual history of the Soviet Union up to the death of Stalin.
November 20, 2009
A great piece of visual history for art and history fans
December 29, 2009
Beautiful and inspiring visuals of the socialist ideal.
January 7, 2010
This book is amazing - incredible stories. Anyone have The Commissar Vanishes?
March 8, 2013
The most amazing coffee table book I've ever seen...
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews