Description
Book SynopsisIn the winter of 1909, a political bombshell exploded in tsarist Russia. Scandal swept not only the empire but the entire world with the exposure of the secret life of one man. Newspaper headlines introduced him as a twentieth-century Judas.
Trade ReviewAnna Geifman gives us a riveting portrait of Evno Azef, the most important and elusive police spy in the history of the Russian Revolutionary Movement. Geifman's research is impeccable and her argument convincing. Azef was neither a double agent nor a provocateur. As one of the premier historians of Russian terrorism, Geifman also explores the psychological realm of Azef's treachery, providing important insights into his motivations and career. -- Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University
A revisionist work in the best sense of the word. It strives, on the basis of newly opened archival materials, to reevaluate the personality and career of tsarist Russia's notorious master 'spy.' Azef, who worked for the security police while heading the revolutionary terrorist organization, is here depicted, for the first time, as a complex person, less duplicitous than usually thought of but no less critical in discrediting the wave of terror that swept Russia in the early years of this century. -- Richard Pipes, Harvard University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 A Frightened Child Chapter 2 Yet Another way to Sell Your Soul Chapter 3 Terrorist-Neophyte, 1902-1905 Chapter 4 Terrorist-Virtuoso, 1905-1908 Chapter 5 The Exposure Chapter 6 The Public Scandal: Looking for the Guilty Head Chapter 7 Fugitive Incognito
