Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-294) and index.
Chapter one: early life and career -- Chapter two: service in the Georgian political police -- Chapter three: Leader of Georgia and Transcaucasia: 1931-1936 -- Chapter four: the purges in Georgia -- Chapter five: masters of the Lubianka -- Chapter six: The war years -- Chapter seven: Kremlin politics after the war -- Chapter eight: Beria under fire: 1950-1953 -- Chapter nine: the downfall of Beria -- Chapter ten: The aftermath -- Chapter eleven: Beria reconsidered.
"This is the first comprehensive biography of Lavrentii Beria, Stalin's notorious police chief and for many years his most powerful lieutenant. Beria has long symbolized all the evils of Stalinism, haunting the public imagination both in the West and in the former Soviet Union. Yet because his political opponents expunged his name from public memory after his dramatic arrest and execution in 1953, little has been known about his long and tumultuous career. Now, drawing on sources made available since glasnost, Amy Knight describes in chilling detail the story of Beria's climb to the top of the Stalinist system, his complex relationship with Stalin, and his bitter struggle with Khrushchev after Stalin's death." -- from the dust jacket.
0691032572 : $24.95
93003937
Berii︠a︡, L. P. 1899-1953.
Politicians--Biography.--Soviet Union Internal security--Soviet Union.
Georgia (Republic)--Politics and government. Soviet Union--Politics and government--1936-1953.