Saint Petersburg

'One of my favourite historians' Dan Snow Built by slave labour in the early years of the eighteenth century, Saint Petersburg was Peter the Greats 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 Lenins 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, 194144. Unlike Paris or Prague, the Nazis werent trying to take over, they wanted to wipe it off the map. According to some, this siege of 1.5 million people including Putins 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 Based on first-hand and many unpublished accounts from figures from all walks of life irascible authors, factory workers, bakers, furriers, dancers, sailors, grandparents, children this masterpiece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.