A review by harvio
The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia by David King

4.0

- Thirty years in the making, David King's book is the product of an immense, one-man, archaeology. Joseph Stalin's censorship of photography was nothing less than the attempted falsification of history itself. Spanning the three defining chapters of his ruthless leadership of Russia (1929 to 1953): 1) his merciless "collectivisation" war against the peasantry (millions died); 2) his murderous police terror against Communist officials (and ordinary citizens) and; 3) his catastrophic political/military maleficence before and after the German invasion of 1941 - nothing of significance could be published that failed to glorify every aspect of Stalin's leadership. Stalin's political opponents were obliterated from all forms of political existence as photographs were "retouched and restructured with airbrush and scalpel to make famous personalities vanish. This book contains some of the most interesting altered images (before/after) from King's immense collection (of over 250,000 images!), complete with background explanations of who was removed and why.
- very interesting
- I really enjoyed it