The Cult of Ivan the Terrible in Stalin's Russia - Paperback

by M. Perrie (Author)

Ivan IV, the sixteenth-century Russian tsar notorious for his reign of terror, became an unlikely national hero in the Soviet Union during the 1940s. This book traces the development of Ivan's positive image, placing it in the context of Stalin's campaign for patriotism. In addition to historians' images of Ivan, the author examines literary and artistic representations, including Sergei Eisenstein's famous film, banned for its depiction of the tsar which was interpreted as an allegorical criticism of Stalin.

Author Biography

MAUREEN PERRIE is Professor of Russian History at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham. Her previous books include The Agrarian Policy of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party, The Image of Ivan the Terrible in Russian Folklore and Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia.