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On the Precipice: Stalin, the Red Army Leadership and the Road to Stalingrad, 1931–1942, by Mezhiritsky, Peter

On the Precipice is Peter Mezhiritsky’s surreal account of Joseph Stalin and Georgii Konstantinovich Zhukov and their roles in the Great Patriotic War (World War II Eastern Front). The book also investigates the Red Army’s leadership and certain political and military activities transpiring within the Soviet Union and to some degree Germany from the 1930s into the war’s early years. Published four times in Russian with the fourth version appearing in 2008, the fifth (2012) edition is ably translated into English by Stuart Britton. Mezhiritsky’s thesis is ill defined and lacks fundamental documentation. Conceivably, he examines Stalin’s domestic and foreign policies and often brutal actions by using Marshal Zhukov’s memoir as an analytical lens. Yet Zhukov’s reminiscences, which have been published in English, are not listed within the book’s bibliography. Moreover, Zhukov’s biographies are also absent. Only one secondary work about Stalin is identified. There are, however, a limited number of cited Russian primary and secondary sources that will be of value to researchers. Compounding the lack of basic scholarly attention is that the book is a very difficult read. This situation can be an issue with translated material in general. But Britton acknowledges that he resolutely remained true to the author’s capricious narrative. This means that Mezhiritsky’s artsy style causes many vital intellectual threads to materialize but then evaporate in mid-thought. Some ideas resurface later, while others remain in the abyss. The author’s ‘conversation’ with the reader also means frequently mixing exact quotes with personal opinion, a circumstance that makes separating fact from fancy problematic. Unfortunately, most footnotes lack references and do little to clarify matters. Simply put, the book is not history in the American academic sense but more akin to a historical novel, a stream of consciousness, or other forms of literary engagement. Still, if taken as a personal memoir only, the book can be of some use to Soviet Union and World War II scholars. This massive work is really about Peter Mezhiritsky’s attempt to reconcile his personal demons through writing