Picture this: It's summer 1941, Hitler has just torn through the Soviet Union, smashing Stalin's so-called unbreakable pact. The world holds its breath—will the Soviets crumble, or worse, cut another deal with the Nazis? Disaster looms for Britain and America unless someone can wrangle the famously paranoid Stalin into the Allied fold.
Roosevelt taps W. Averell Harriman, America's fourth-richest man and a sharp railroad magnate, to lead the charge. He heads to Britain as liaison between the president and Churchill, launching the Harriman Mission. Joined by his spirited young daughter Kathy, a colorful crew of British diplomats, and the bulldog-like Winston himself, they face down Stalin's mercurial temper in Moscow.
What follows is four years of high-stakes maneuvering—fiery arguments, fragile truces, and moments of raw humanity amid the war's chaos. Giles Milton, the bestselling historian, pulls from troves of unpublished diaries, personal letters, and classified reports to paint scenes you'll feel in your gut: tense dinners with Stalin, whispered strategies in smoke-filled rooms, the constant edge of betrayal.
Read by the author himself, it's like having Milton lean in to share secrets over coffee. You get fresh angles on icons like Churchill and infamous figures in Stalin's orbit, revealing how personal grit forged the 'impossible alliance' that crushed Hitler. It's not dry history; it's alive with drama, egos clashing, and the sheer improbability of it all.
Pop in your earbuds during your commute, or settle in for a long walk—the narration pulls you through Moscow's winters and London's war rooms effortlessly. Whether you're a WWII buff piecing together the puzzle or just love true stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times, The Stalin Affair delivers revelations that stick. Listen and you'll never see the end of the war quite the same way.
From Macmillan Audio, unabridged and packed with new material—your gateway to understanding how fragile partnerships won the deadliest conflict ever.
