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The Maisky Diaries

Red Ambassador to the Court of St James's, 1932-1943

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The Maisky Diaries

By: Gabriel Gorodetsky
Narrated by: John Lee
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About this listen

The terror and purges of Stalin's Russia in the 1930s discouraged Soviet officials from leaving documentary records, let alone keeping personal diaries. A remarkable exception is the unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943. This selection from Maisky's diary grippingly documents Britain's drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Churchill's rise to power, the German invasion of Russia, and the intense debate over the opening of the second front. Maisky was distinguished by his great sociability and access to the key players in British public life. Among his range of regular contacts were politicians, press barons, ambassadors, intellectuals, writers, and indeed royalty. His diary further reveals the role personal rivalries within the Kremlin played in the formulation of Soviet policy at the time. Scrupulously edited and checked against a vast range of Russian and Western archival evidence, this extraordinary narrative diary offers a fascinating revision of the events surrounding the Second World War.

©2015 Gabriel Gorodetsky (P)2015 Tantor 20th Century Diaries & Journals Europe Great Britain Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Modern Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Russia England War Royalty Soviet Union Winston Churchill Imperialism Self-Determination Interwar Period Socialism Stalin Military Middle Ages United Kingdom Imperial Japan Holocaust Middle East Latin American

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Critic reviews

"An extraordinary document left by an extraordinary man." ( The Independent)
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Fascinating, detailed and beautifully written. A fresh perspective which made me rethink my ingrained view of Britain's role in WW2. Reading this you experience something of how the war felt in real time, before it settled into history. Would make a brilliant accompaniment to William Manchester's biography of Churchill - also on audible.

A fascinating new perspective

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This is an incredible diary of Ivan Maisky, Russian Ambassador in London, covering the appeasement era and most of WW2. Amazing detail and observation.

Inside story of appeasement and WW2

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Maisky was the Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom for eleven years between 1932 and 1943. In this abridged recording, Maisky details his impressions of and his conversations with both political leaders and opinion formers in the UK during this turbulent period in world affairs.

During his time as Soviet ambassador, Maisky developed a keen understanding of the British and the Society in which they lived.

Maisky was constantly battling between the needs of his host government and his Soviet masters, particularly given Stalin's paranoia and purges that were occurring at the time.

John Lee who narrates this work does an excellent job. Maisky's diaries offer an intriguing, unusually blunt assessment of the gel-political situation at the time. This book would appeal to anyone who is interested in Soviet history and it's relations with the West.

Maisky Walked a Tight Rope

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The algorithm recommended this to me after I finished listening to Chips Cannon’s diary - ideologically and politically opposite, it was a real treat to hear the opposing views expressed by two such talented diarists. Whilst Maisky is a bogeyman of Chips’, it would appear that he didn’t really cross Maisky’s consciousness (other than an admiration for the decor of the palatial Cannon residence during a meeting with Rab Butler). But Chips certainly exemplified the reactionary, anti-Bolshevik upper class sentiment that Maisky believed did so much to allow the Nazi regime to gain power in Europe,

Maisky’s early recognition of the threat posed by Hitler and steadfast belief that a failure to build a solid relationship between the soviet regime and the west would have grave consequences both for the war and its aftermath leave you sharing his frustration. Opportunity after opportunity is missed to build an alliance, and as events unspool you gain a better understanding of how the consequences of pre-war mistrust shaped Europe for the next 50 years.

But it’s in his descriptions of the British political figures of the time - both great and not so great - where this really comes alive. The weakness of Baldwin and Chamberlain, the clever, sympathetic but weak Eden, the brilliant, frustrating and cynical Churchill. And to have been a fly on the wall at his meetings with Lloyd George! Sympathetically narrated, this is a great antidote to so many histories written with the benefit of hindsight.

A fascinating, amusing insight into the lead up and early years of WW2

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This book is a stunning revelation from an ambassador in the centre of world events prior to WW2 and is a must for students of Russian history.

Brilliant as close to Tine travel as we can get!

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This slightly abridged version of the Maisky Diaries contains a number of illuminating things which you won't find in any general history of the subject and is a most rewarding experience. My only gripe (and by no means insignificant) is the extraordinarily hapless reader, who manages to avoid the slightest risk of injecting any inflection at all throughout the whole book. In addition to his leaden delivery, we are forced to suffer some really weird pronunciation, more particularly the often used term "ambassador", which he insists in pronouncing as "ambassa door." Stalin had people shot for a lot less!

Fascinating details

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If you're interested in understanding more about Britain's role in appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930s and Britain's relations with the USSR during WW2 then this is a great resource. Maisky's diaries are very well written. spare but penetrating. Seems he was regarded as a bit of a genius in his own lifetime. And John Lee's reading, as you might expect, adds much to this surprisingly interesting & entertaining audiobook. Only one warning. You need to be familiar with the basic history of the period which most British audiences will be thanks to TV series like the World at War. This is political history at first hand written by a man who lived through it all and knew all the key statesman of the time, many of whom he was on close personal terms with. Chamberlain, Churchill, Eden, Beaverbrook, Stalin, Litvinoff, Beatrice & Syney Web, George Bernard Shaw and many more. The final chapter deals with Maisky's return to Russia and his barbarous imprisonment and persecution by the beastly Stalinist regime he had served so well.

Excellent

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The Maisky Diaries - Very interesting
The Russians were very cruel to their people in those times
John Lee is a brilliant narrator

The Maisky Diaries - Very interesting

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Maisky's diaries are unique in providing a glimpse into the hitherto opaque world of Soviet attitudes to the UK in the appeasement years, during the Nazi -Soviet pact, and after Barbarossa, when Soviet Russia became an ally. Maisky is often deeply disingenuous, dishonest, even to himself, and sometimes duplicitous , however he always comes across as both human and engaging. Rare qualities in a Stalin era Soviet official. He also was clearly fond of Britain and of the many establishment figures with whom he interacted, and it was this groundbreaking approach to diplomacy, creating a web of influential contacts , that was to get him into trouble later. A must read for anyone interested in Soviet UK relations.

Britain's Favourite Wartime Russian

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What a shame the narration is so silly! Why the peculiar sing song cadence which bears no relation to the text. The text wasn’t complex (as far as i managed to listen)so Mr Lee must have understood it but he doesn’t engage with the meaning of what he reads - it is as if a machine was providing the vocals with a predictable constant cycle of rises and falls in volume and tone.
I had hoped to compare these diaries with the Chips Cannon ones of the same period but the narration is far too off putting.
I am so disappointed and really don’t understand why such a silly vocal style was considered appropriate for this book.

Abandoned due to narration

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