From Peter the Great to Putin, a biography of the city Hitler tried to wipe off the map Built by slave labour in the early years of the eighteenth century, Saint Petersburg was Peter the Great's so-called 'window on to Europe', a city that would outdo all of Europe in its splendour. But a window works both ways, and as bestselling historian Sinclair McKay writes, St Petersburg has always been a city that has drawn Westerners who wanted to see into Russia. It is also a city where much has happened. It was St Petersburg until 1917, Petrograd after the revolution, Leningrad after Lenin's death in 1924, and St Petersburg once again from 1991. This biography of a city stretches from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin, who was born and made in St Petersburg. The story centres the '900 days and nights' of the Siege of Leningrad, 1941-44. Unlike Paris or Prague, the Nazis weren't trying to take over, they wanted to wipe it off the map. According to some, this siege of 1.5 million people - including Putin's mother - was an attempted genocide. Based on first-hand and many unpublished accounts from figures from all walks of life - irascible authors, factory workers, bakers, furriers, dancers, sailors, grandparents, children - this masterpiece reveals the central importance of St Petersburg over the centuries. This is the story of the city told from the perspective of the people who lived there.

Details

ISBN13: 9780241741313
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 432
Edition:
Publication Date: 24 Jun 2025
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 24.1(H)x16.2(L)x3.8(W)703
Weight (gm): 703

Author Biography

Sinclair McKay is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Berlin, Dresden, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, The Secret Listeners, Bletchley Park Brainteasers and Secret Service Brainteasers. He is a literary critic for the Telegraph and the Spectator and lives in London.

Reviews

Richly-layered and packed with insight, this riveting account of terrible events tells us as much about the present as it does the past -- Patrick Bishop, author of Paris '44
The story of the siege of Leningrad is one of the great epics of modern history. It has been told many times before, but never in such an engrossing, moving, often horrifying but also uplifting way -- Brendan Simms, author of Hitler
Sinclair McKay has followed up his spellbinding history of Berlin with another tour de force. Saint Petersburg is a riveting account of a beautiful city with a dark soul. Interlaced between descriptions of incredible beauty and decay are such unforgettable tales of cruelty and courage as to make a reader weep or forget to breathe. McKay's magisterial history of Peter the Great’s monumental gift to Russia will become a classic in its own right -- Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana
McKay is a gifted writer; his prose has the cadence, tone and power of a Shostakovich symphony. Horror is majestically conveyed -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *
Sinclair McKay has followed up his spellbinding history of Berlin with another tour de force. Saint Petersburg is a riveting account of a beautiful city with a dark soul. Interlaced between descriptions of incredible beauty and decay are such unforgettable tales of cruelty and courage as to make a reader weep or forget to breathe. McKay's magisterial history of Peter the Great’s monumental gift to Russia will become a classic in its own right -- Amanda Forman, author of Georgiana