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History's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks Hardcover – December 16, 2008

by Sean McMeekin (Author)

15 customer reviews

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Historians have never resolved a central mystery of the Russian Revolution: How did the Bolsheviks, despite facing a world of enemies and leaving nothing but economic ruin in their path, manage to stay in power through five long years of civil war? In this penetrating book, Sean McMeekin draws on previously undiscovered materials from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and other European and American archives to expose some of the darkest secrets of Russia’s early days of communism. Building on one archival revelation after another, the author reveals how the Bolsheviks financed their aggression through astonishingly extensive thievery. Their looting included everything from the cash savings of private citizens to gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, icons, antiques, and artwork.

By tracking illicit Soviet financial transactions across Europe, McMeekin shows how Lenin’s regime accomplished history’s greatest heist between 1917 and 1922 and turned centuries of accumulated wealth into the sinews of class war. McMeekin also names names, introducing for the first time the compliant bankers, lawyers, and middlemen who, for a price, helped the Bolsheviks launder their loot, impoverish Russia, and impose their brutal will on millions.

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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks were enmeshed in a civil war and desperate for funds for everything from guns and boots for soldiers to a luxury car for Lenin. In theory, they had at their disposal the riches of the deposed Tsar, including one of the world�s great reserves of gold. But the gold was the security for Russia�s national debt, and most of Europe didn�t recognize the new regime or its right to the treasury anyway; in today�s terms, it was a rogue state under heavy sanctions whose assets were effectively frozen. What followed, McMeekin writes, was a �gold-laundering boom,� involving art-thieving commissars, double-dealing smugglers, and a surprisingly nefarious cast of Swedes. The Bolsheviks put teams to work prying pearls from centuries-old icons, cracked open private safe-deposit boxes, and even stripped a necklace from Catherine the Great�s tomb. McMeekin�s outrage about the crimes occasionally overgilds a good and relevant story, but, given the economic and cultural cost to the Russian people, it is understandable.
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Received Honorable Mention for the 2010 Ed A. Hewett Book Prize, sponsored by the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, and awarded by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

(Ed A. Hewett Book Prize Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 2010-11-01)

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (December 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0300135580
ISBN-13: 978-0300135589
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 15 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,704,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4577 in Books > History > Asia > Russia
- #65531 in Books > History > World

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K. Kennedy

an excellent book on the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution

March 20, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

"History's Greatest Heist" by Sean McMeekin is the history of the Bolshevik seizure of assets of Russian (and other) citizens after the Russian Revolution. It is a tale of greed and cold-blooded collection of assets leading to starvation and misery, and Mr. McMeekin tells this tale with objectivity and with clear documentation. I was shocked to see how complicit other countries (specifically Sweden) were in stealing and laundering these stolen assets for the Bolsheviks.

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Mudhole

Read this heartbreaking book. Sean McMeekin does not explain ...

February 10, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Read this heartbreaking book. Sean McMeekin does not explain who the Bolsheviks were- to delve into that risks his livelihood.However, many of their crimes with respect to destroying centuries of Russia's cultural patrimony are well documented here. Read it and weep.

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March 26, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is full of details as far as amounts, type, comparison to today, names, places, etc. Well researched, well written. It's actually quite frighting to see how easy it was for the Bolsheviks to do business with the rest of the world. It's also quite eye opening to realize how a government can say one thing, while their foreign offices can manipulate an official standing to make it mean whatever they need it to mean. I had no idea how much business Sweden and Germany did with the Bolsheviks, both before and after the revolution. Shame on Sweden and Germany, shame on England for being so quick to do business with this evil entity, the Bolsheviks. Shame on the world for turning a blind eye to the atrocities in Russia, and further shame on the rest of the world for their greed in buying up stolen belongings. A real eye opener with stunning detail.

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Mario Corsario

Great information -- extreme bias

May 9, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Absolutely incredibly interesting book with unbelievably interesting detailed information on the economy of the early Bolshevik state. COMPLETELY ONE BILLION PERCENT biased against the Bolsheviks and pro-English. The guilt for the starvation of every Russian who starved in the civil war is heaped upon the Bolsheviks, and the oh so civilized British who (as the author so clearly exposes) prevented any food from being imported into the Bolshevik areas (to collectively punish people ruled by the Bolsheviks for the Bolshevik default on debts that couldn't have been paid anyway) are presented as a bunch of confused gents who apparently should have continued the blockade indefinitely so that even more Russians would have starved. However, the authors extreme bias does little to detract from the fact that this is a MUST READ.

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Amazon Customer

I really liked this book despite is pedantic approach to factual detail

February 19, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I really liked this book despite is pedantic approach to factual detail. The cravenness of the swedish government is worth noting in terms of laundering, as it were, the gold reserves of the tsarist government. The facts on the looting of the churches and monasteries of jewels, gold, silver and icons is well presented as are some of the stories of brave clergy who defied the thefts. The roll played by the united states government in sanctioning some art dealers and their auctions is a sad tale. Everyone should read this book.

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February 21, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Excellent book! Everyone should read this book. It is incredible that we know so much about the holocaust but nothing of the depredations of the communist in Russia. They have done the same in every Country that has had the misfortune of being taken over communism. It is an evil system still alive and well even in this century.

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Jimmy Porter

Excellent service; excellent read.

February 8, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The author has researched and written a book that covers the gap between the Tsarist downfall through to the downfall of Bolshevik rebels. The rape of the culture of Old Russia will make you sick when you see how the gold, jewels. paintings and religious objects are stolen by these "friends of the People," what they do with it, and how it turns out. It made me very sorrowful and revengeful for the actions of these robbers. It also points out what a lax citizenship will allow a small band of violent and active rebels, including destroying your country, your culture, your person. This was a well written book, placing some of the then current world leaders at the same greedy trough as the Russian rapists, The Bolsheviks!

21 people found this helpful

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January 21, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A detailed yet readable book on how the Soviets took over Russia's financial, cultural & artistic heritage at the Russian Revolution. Perhaps too much detail for the casual reader, but a must for anyone interested in the topic.

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Most recent customer reviews

S. Smith

A book with a large black hole of missing players

I found the book interesting but contained too many glaring, critical black holes. There is no mention of William Boyce Thompson (Federal Reserve Bank director), AIC (American...Read more

Published on April 19, 2014

Eric

An excellent and well-researched book on plundering and thieving nature of socialism

This book describes in detail every step of socialist plunder of Russian people. Anyone interested in learning what socialists are preparing for American people should read this...Read more

Published on December 22, 2013

Dalton C. Rocha

To be a socialist means to robber entire nations and to live in huge mansions

Here in Brazil, I read this good book.
This book has these main great qualities:
1- About the massive robbering of "Soviet" people by the Marxists and dooming of a first...Read more

Published on November 2, 2013

GEMI

Horrid

This a scary and sobering book about what happens when a group of lunatics masquerading as human-rights activists, progressives, and friends of the people manage to succeed in...Read more

Published on April 11, 2012

Robert A. Lynn

HISTORY'S GREATEST HEIST: THE LOOTING OF RUSSIA BY THE BOLSHEVIKS

HISTORY'S GREATEST HEIST: THE LOOTING OF RUSSIA BY THE BOLSHEVIKS
SEAN MCMEEKIN
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009
HARDCOVER, $38.Read more

Published on March 23, 2010

anonymous

Fascinating and engrossing...

So many interesting books are now being written about Russia. The "collapse" of the Soviet Union sounds less and less like that---and more like a great peoples getting their...Read more

Published on June 23, 2009

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