Lenin's Embalmers

By Ilya Zbarsky

Book Overview

Between 1924 and the fall of communism in 1991, many millions of visitors paid their respects to the embalmed body of Lenin in Red Square. This is the story of the mausoleum, told by the only survivor... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1860465153
• ISBN13: 9781860465154
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Harvill Pr
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

It is extrmely interesting book

It is difficult to explain why this book is very interesting. Just read it! Everybody who is interesting in history MUST read this book.

An odd, but interesting, book

I had never heard about this book until I saw it sitting on a shelf at a small bookstore. The title intrigued me, so I purchased it. While a lot of the work, at least initially, discusses the embalming of Lenin's corpse, there was a considerable amount of material about life during the purges of Stalin. The author was a witness to many events, albeit from a priviledged position in the Soviet hierarchy, and his recounting of the "show trials" and the terror of the "knock in the middle of the night" is revealed explicitly. There is also some recounting of other Communist leaders being embalmed by Russian experts, the section concerning the work on Ho Chi Minh during the height of the American bombing of North Vietnam being particularly interesting. Read this book to learn many different and interesting things about life under Stalin, and also the early days of the USSR.

If you want something really different

I have read so many books about the Former Soviet Union, that I would probably not realize I had read some of them, until I had read into the books for some length. This book by Ilya Zbarsky "Lenin's Embalmers" is not one you will forget.The book is not ghoulish nor is it sensational; it is an incredible story about an exceptional event and profession. The book is primarily about the initial embalming, and the decades of maintenance upon Lenin's corpse that have followed. The book is made much more interesting, as the Author meshes the story of Lenin's remains with Soviet History as he and his Family experienced it. The Author also includes the History of the tomb itself, from the earliest designs, through the modifications it has gone through over the years. Architectural drawings as well as construction photographs are included.The book maintains that all of Lenin was initially preserved, and contrary to persistent rumors, that the entire body has remained intact. Whether or not the book is convincing on these points, I leave to other readers. This really is a great offbeat read. It also is a serious explanation of the History, not a tabloid distortion.

A Most Unusual Book

You've probably never thought to wonder how Lenin's body managed to look so good for more than half a century, but if you're interested, this book provides both the technical details and a stark view of life in Stalinist Russia, where anyone could find his or her life destroyed overnight on a whim, as the result of a mistake, or because of their religious background. Prof. Zbarsky and his father, both Jewish, were treated well only until their unusual skills (embalming bodies) could be replaced.Despite that fact, Prof. Zbarsky's description of life in Soviet Russia is remarkably objective. The extensive passages relating to the embalming, first of heads of state and more recently Russian mafia thugs, are frosting on the cake.

Truly interesting and well-written.

The book takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of Post-revolution Soviet history. It is a memoir on the life of Ilya Zbarsky. It is truly a fascinating study of the totalitarian Soviet regime. Because of the personal accounts, the text is believable and stark. It is a must-have for anybody interested in the cold-war, and some science.