Who Killed Kirov PB (Paperback)

The 1934 murder of Sergei Kirov—the charismatic politician who was the only real threat to Stalin's power—sparked Stalin's brutal purges, and speculation about it still fascinates the Russians. Who killed Kirov, and why? Stalin, disaffected political opponents, a jealous husband? In Russia, dozens of conspiracy theories about Kirov have sprung up, and scholars throughout the world have tackled various pieces of the story—but definitive evidence has eluded them. Now Amy Knight has combed the recently opened Russian archives in a brilliant recreation of this fascinating crime, a compelling biography of its victim, and an important analysis of the Kirov affair's effect on the Russian people.