The red monarch: Scenes from the life of Stalin

This series of sketches captures Stalin with irony, humor and pathos. The author calls his fictionalized version of Stalin "artistic documentation" in the spirit of reality based on research, personal experience and conversations with others. Yuri Krotkov, a Soviet Georgian, as was Stalin, was a prominent dramatist and screenwriter in the Soviet Union before his defection. As a member of the Russian intelligentsia, he was in the confidence of top-ranking Soviet and party officials in Moscow. Following his arrival in the United States, he held teaching positions at George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University and Oberlin College.