I much prefer writing fiction. History books, for me, are very hard work, very serious. — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
Writing fiction is very different to writing non-fiction. I love writing novels, but on history books, like my biographies of Stalin or Catherine the Great or Jerusalem, I spend endless hours doing vast amounts of research. But it ends up… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
Trump wants to be the first American tsar. With his hero worship of Putin, his admiration for the apparent omnipotence of the Kremlin, schoolboyish… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
“History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." --- Edward Gibbon” — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
Every Russian emperor from Peter the Great to Stalin and Putin knows a leader and his security agencies must never be parted. His safety… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
“Sex fills a few hours of our lives yet those precious minutes count for more than months and years” — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
“Iraq was already in the grip of a bloody insurgency against British rule. Churchill therefore called a conference in Cairo to hand over a… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
I don't think Jerusalem should be controlled 100% by religious people of any denomination, sect, or religion - even my own. — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
The memoirs of the Grand Duchess Olga are an entertaining record for anyone interested in the imperial family's home life during the last years… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
I am a passionate nonfinisher. Life is too short, and there are too many great books to read, so if I lose interest or… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
There is a view of Russian exceptionalism, that they are a unique civilisation, a view right since Ivan the Terrible that Russia is a… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
The political lives of tyrants play out human affairs with a special intensity: the death of a democratic leader long after his retirement is… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
Mr. Putin presents himself as a czar - and like any czar, he fears revolution above all else. — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
'Daddy used to be a Georgian,' Stalin's son, Vasily, once said. Actually, the dictator didn't truly become Russian; he remained Georgian culturally. Yet he… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
“Once in power, Stalin’s campaign to succeed Lenin required a legitimate heroic career which he did not possess because of his experience in what… — Simon Sebag Montefiore Copy Share Image
