My Dear Mr. Stalin
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The Complete Correspondence of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph V. Stalin
Edited, with Commentary, by Susan Butler; Foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Out of Print
My Dear Mr. Stalin is the first publication that contains the complete correspondence between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph V. Stalin. This collection of more than three hundred hot-war messages, never before fully available in any language, is an invaluable primary source for understanding the relationship that developed between these two great world leaders during a time of supreme world crisis.
The correspondence, secret at the time, begins with a letter Roosevelt wrote to Stalin offering aid to the Soviet Union following Hitler’s surprise attack in 1941. It ends with a message that was an attempt to minimize the differences between the two leaders, approved by Roosevelt only minutes before his death in 1945. The book traces the evolution of their unique relationship, revealing the statesmanship of the two men and their thinking about the grave events of their time. An informative introduction to the volume and generous annotations set the letters in context.
SUSAN BUTLER is the author of East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart.
“This is a very important book of source and reference material which ought to stay in print for many years, and of enduring interest not only for scholarship about Stalin, but perhaps even more about Roosevelt.”—John Lukacs
“My Dear Mr. Stalin is a fascinating historical collection of letters between the two most powerful men on earth—hence this is both highly important and vibrantly human. The result is a captivating book that will be obligatory for all scholars of the Grand Alliance and those interested in how the World War was won.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Potemkin: Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner and Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
"We . . . owe a debt to Susan Butler, who has brought together for the first time the entire extent run of Roosevelt's and Stalin's letters. It is a remarkable set of historical documents."—Gerald Russello, New York Sun
“This collection is a history junkie’s delight. . . . Those who read this will gain a firsthand look into the minds of two world leaders thrown together by Hitler and the contingencies of war.”—Publishers Weekly
"Susan Butler has dusted the cables down and presented [the Stalin-Roosevelt correspondence] as a full record...history is indebted to her." - Frances Stonor Saunders, The Guardian
"...one of the most important collections of 20th-century correspondence for a long time..." - Antony Beevor, The Times
Publication Date: January 10, 2006