Diaries provide a unique window into the minds and thoughts of their writers. Provided they are not written with a view to later publication.
The Maisky Diaries is a diary kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943.
This selection is an abridged version of a 3-volume set of the diary. It is fascinating.
It narrates the events from Britain’s drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich 1935s era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Churchill’s rise to power, the German invasion of Russia, and the debate over the opening of the second front.