Critical Acclaim
Lenin the Dictator: An Intimate Portrait
Read reviews:
The Guardian: Daniel Beer
on Lenin the Dictator
"Victor Sebestyen’s engagingly written biography…. hits its stride in the years of revolutionary upheaval; it captures all the drama of Lenin’s leadership against a background of imperial collapse, the ravages of war and the building of a dictatorship."
The Mail on Sunday: Francis Wheen
on Lenin the Dictator
‘“A richly readable new biography…enthralling.”
Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
on Lenin the Dictator
"Excellent, original and compelling portrait of Lenin as man and leader."
1946: The Making of the Modern World
Revolution 1989
The Times: We're Reading...
on Revolution 1989
“Sharp focus and racy prose capture the events and decisions that fed into the growing turmoil across Eastern Europe as the East German regime crumbled.”
Newsweek: Andrew Bast
on Revolution 1989
“A must-have account. Sebestyen's brilliantly written narrative unfolds in brief, gripping episodes.”
The Daily Beast
on Revolution 1989
“Numerous books have [attempted] to synthesize the compelling story of the fall of communism, but Revolution 1989 comes closest to being the essential volume. Sebestyen’s elegant narrative lays out in crisp episodes what was happening . . . throughout the tumultuous 1980s.”
The Daily Mail: Philip Jacobson
on Revolution 1989
“Masterly handling of this complex and fast-moving story and its ever-changing cast.”
Slate: Christopher Hitchens
on Revolution 1989
“A revealing account…..Sebestyen makes brilliantly effective use of archive material available since the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”
The Times: Michael Binyon
on Revolution 1989
“Sebestyen's strength is his sharp focus and racy prose... Here is history written like a Greek tragedy... In Revolution 1989 nothing is taken for granted until the last triumphant page. ”
New York Review of Books: Timothy Garton Ash
on Revolution 1989
“Vivid personal glimpses and striking details... Victor Sebestyen's book is full of sharp snapshots and crisp narrative.”
Evening Standard: Peter Bradshaw
on Revolution 1989
“Victor Sebestyen’s tremendous Revolution 1989 – a gripping account of how the Berlin Wall fell, taking Soviet Communism down with it. As a historian, Sebestyen is deeply immersed in his sources; as a journalist he tells a truly gripping tale.”
Daily Express: Christopher Sylvester
on Revolution 1989
“A thrilling read... Sebestyen is good at sketching the leading players but he also succinctly conveys what life was like for the ordinary citizens.”
The Independent: Mary Dejevsky
on Revolution 1989
“Rollicking mix of high drama and sordid reality... conventional history, spiced with telling quotations.”
The Sunday Times: Adam Lebor
on Revolution 1989
“Victor Sebestyen's vivid panoramic work is a fine account... the writing is taut, the scene-setting dramatic, giving the book an almost cinematic feel."
The Independent on Sunday: Lisa Hilton
on Revolution 1989
“Sebestyen's writing is as exhilarating and powerfully emotional as the events he describes... In a narrative as intoxicating as it is intricate, Revolution 1989 not only encompasses the political confrontations which fomented revolt but uses brief, skilful vignettes of ordinary lives to recreate the world behind the Iron Curtain.”
The Economist: Summer Reading
on Revolution 1989
“A digestible and colourful history of that miraculous year.”
The Guardian: Angus Macqueen
on Revolution 1989
“Revolution 1989 is a lucid primer on the background to, and events of that magical year. Sebestyen's narrative is clear, entertaining and sure-footed.”
The Scotsman: Misha Glenny
on Revolution 1989
“Sebestyen has got the pace and the balance just right.”
Scotland on Sunday: Michael Fry
on Revolution 1989
“Sebestyen has made an excellent job of organising his disparate material, so that the reader can recapture, with the same sense of bafflement and elation, the events that made the Europe we live in - and after 20 years he can add understanding too. "Graphic and detailed. . . Leads us right into the heart of the intimate dramas that make history . . . Excellent.”
The Spectator: Richard Beeston
on Revolution 1989
“Victor Sebestyen brilliantly pulls together the events that led to the fall of the Soviet empire... it still takes your breath away 20 years on.”
The Observer: Simon Sebag-Montefiore
on Revolution 1989
“It's a complex story spanning many countries, but this exciting yet deeply researched work brings it impressively to life... compelling.”
The Mail on Sunday: Jonathan Dimbleby
on Revolution 1989
“A compelling and illuminating account of a great drama in the history of our times which showed one again that ordinary men and women really can change the world. ”
The Times Literary Supplement: Vladimir Tismaneanu
on Revolution 1989
“Revolution 1989 is a superbly written and impressively documented chronicle of the year John Paul II described as an annus mirabilis... Sebestyen provides a vivid portrait of the Stalinist leaders and their endless cynicism.”
The Daily Telegraph: Anthony Howard
on Revolution 1989
“Pacy and vivid... a considerable achievement... [Sebestyen] is a writer with a gift not only for exposition but also evocation.”
Twelve Days
The Economist
on Twelve Days - History Book of the Year
“Sebestyen's book should become the standard work on the uprising... A gripping read.”
New York Times
on Twelve Days
“Excellent... a gripping, detailed reconstruction”
New York Post: Professor Rodney Radosh
on Twelve Days
“A small masterpiece that should be read and treasured by all who value mankind’s eternal quest for freedom.”
Financial Times: Stefan Wagstyl
on Twelve Days
“Sebestyen is excellent at bringing to life the revolutionary moment. Personalities leap from his pages...”
The Wall Street Journal
on Twelve Days
“A fast-paced narrative built scene by scene, moving deftly among the key players…Steeped in detail."
Evening Standard: Andrew Roberts
on Twelve Days
“Superbly researched... very well written... this engrossing book is a powerful adventure story as well as an uplifting morality tale.”
The Mail on Sunday: Simon Shaw
on Twelve Days
“Sebestyen's account of the doomed uprising is utterly enthralling and almost unbearable to read. ”
The Irish Times: Richard Aldous
on Twelve Days
“Twelve Days is a triumph both of research and dramatic reconstruction... masterly account of the 1956 uprising. Such is the brilliance of the prose that the reader is lulled into the belief that somehow the idealistic students can pull it off.”
The Spectator: David Pryce-Jones
on Twelve Days
“A readable, and exciting, blend of the scholarly with the journalistic, altogether a fitting commemoration of the drama.”
London Review of Books: Eric Hobsbawm
on Twelve Days
“Well documented... and vividly written. ”
The Independent: Frank McLynn
on Twelve Days
“This lucid, highly readable account of the Hungarian Revolution... eschews all cliches to get through to what really happened.”
The Tablet: Marcus Tanner
on Twelve Days
“Sebestyen dispels many cliches surrounding the uprising.”
Simon Sebag Montefiore: Author of Jerusalem the Biography
on Twelve Days
“A magisterial but totally gripping and fresh account of the noble, violent, and doomed Hungarian revolution.”
The Sunday Telegraph: Anne Applebaum
on Twelve Days
“Fresh, readable and honest... the story of the Hungarian revolution also demands attention because of its almost disturbing relevance.”
The Mail on Sunday: Peter Hitchens
on Twelve Days
“Sebestyen has done a major good deed by commemorating this hugely important event with a clear straightforward and compelling account.”
Literary Review
on Twelve Days
“Masterly... Victor Sebestyen is a marvellous guide to the Hungarian Revolution... His nuanced, intelligent account... is a first class book.”