The Stalin Affair: The Allies' Secret Mission to Wartime Moscow

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The remarkable true story of the Allied men and women who worked alongside Stalin during four turbulent years of war.

In the summer of 1941, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, shattering what Stalin had considered an ironclad partnership with the Fuhrer. It was a shocking turning-point in the Second World War.

The Allied reaction was twofold: delight that there was now a second front, but fears that the Red Army would be defeated. This would spell catastrophe for Britain and America. An all-powerful Hitler would be able to concentrate his vast military resources in Western Europe, making the continent's liberation virtually impossible.

In the wake of the Nazi invasion, a select team of British and Americans were given two vital goals: to befriend Joseph Stalin, hitherto an enemy of the Western powers, and to keep the Red Army fighting on the Eastern Front.

America's principal representative was Averell Harriman, a multi-millionaire railroad magnate. He was initially sent to London with orders to build a close working relationship with Winston Churchill. In this work, he was aided by his fashionable and brilliant young daughter, Kathy.

Averell was next sent to Moscow, where he successfully wrangled Stalin into becoming a much-needed partner of the Allies. Soon after, Averell and Kathy moved to the Soviet capital to work directly with Stalin. Aided by the gloriously eccentric Archie Clark Kerr, this trio of protagonists got to know the Soviet leader more intimately than anyone else. They were thereby able to keep the fraught Allied alliance on track. But they also discovered that the Soviet dictator had a terrifying masterplan for the post-war world.

Full of vivid, intimate scenes between the Big Three wartime leaders, The Stalin Affair draws on private letters, secret reports and unpublished diaries to reveal a hitherto untold story of the path to Allied victory. It also provides a compelling, richly nuanced portrait of history's most complex and notorious dictator, Joseph Stalin.

Author Bio

Giles Milton is a writer and historian. He is the internationally bestselling author of eleven books including Nathaniel's Nutmeg, White Gold, Samurai William, Paradise Lost, Russian Roulette, D-Day: The Soldier's Story and Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. He has also written three novels and three children's books. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages. He lives in London.