{"product_id":"2940169553192","title":"Stalin's Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival: The Life of Mikhail Sholokhov","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA masterful and definitive biography of one of the most misunderstood and controversial writers in Russian literature\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMikhail Sholokhov is arguably one of the most contentious recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a young man, Sholokhov¿s epic novel, Quiet Don, became an unprecedented overnight success.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eStalin¿s Scribe\u003c\/i\u003e is the first biography of a man who was once one of the Soviet Union¿s most prominent political figures. Thanks to the opening of Russia¿s archives, Brian Boeck discovers that Sholokhov¿s official Soviet biography is actually a tangled web of legends, half-truths, and contradictions. Boeck examines the complex connection between an author and a dictator, revealing how a Stalinist courtier became an ideological acrobat and consummate politician in order to stay in favor and remain relevant after the dictator¿s death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eStalin¿s Scribe\u003c\/i\u003e is remarkable biography that both reinforces and clashes with our understanding of the Soviet system. It reveals a Sholokhov who is bold, uncompromising, and sympathetic amp;mdash; and reconciles him with the vindictive and mean-spirited man described in so many accounts of late Soviet history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShockingly, at the height of the terror, which claimed over a million lives, Sholokhov became a member of the most minuscule subset of the Soviet Union¿s population amp;mdash; the handful of individuals whom Stalin personally intervened to save.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Audio, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47114583277808,"sku":"2940169553192","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169553192_p0.jpg?v=1769896740","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169553192","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}