The Great Fear: Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s

Stalin’s Great Terror has long exercised a fascination for the historian and the general public. This is the first English language monograph on the subject for nearly 20 years. The Great Fear presents a new and original explanation of Stalin’s Terror based on intelligence materials in Russian archives. It shows how Soviet leaders developed a grossly exaggerated fear of conspiracy and foreign invasion and lashed out at enemies largely of their own making. It is written in a lively an engaging prose that should appeal to readers of popular history as well as to an academic audience.