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The Dancer and the Devil: Stalin and the Murder of Anna Pavlova
“God is on your side? Is he a conservative? The Devil is on my side, he’s a good communist.”—Joseph Stalin
In the wee hours of January 23, 1931, the world’s greatest ballerina lay dying. As her lungs filled with fluid, the exiled Russian, Anna Pavlova, gasped to doctors that she had been “poisoned” by food in Paris, but to no avail. To a watching world, she symbolized the glories of pre-Soviet Russia. And for that, she had to die.
Joseph Stalin, chief murderer and dictator of the U.S.S.R., devised the most devastating system of poison labs and bio-weapons the world had yet seen. In his effort to consolidate power, his assassins spread across the globe, striking dead dozens of famed exiles even as he slaughtered millions of his own people. But the dictator’s diabolical fascination with toxins did not end with his death or even the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In The Dancer and the Devil, #1 national bestselling author John O’Neill teams up with Sarah Wynne to expose the toxic reign of terror continuing today. Engaging as a novel and packed with historical research and testimonies from modern victims of Communism, The Dancer and the Devil reveals how the spirit of Stalin lives on in the hideous human experiments being conducted in the concentration camps of North Korea, in Putin’s blatant assassination plots, and in the bioweapon plans of the People’s Republic of China.
In the wee hours of January 23, 1931, the world’s greatest ballerina lay dying. As her lungs filled with fluid, the exiled Russian, Anna Pavlova, gasped to doctors that she had been “poisoned” by food in Paris, but to no avail. To a watching world, she symbolized the glories of pre-Soviet Russia. And for that, she had to die.
Joseph Stalin, chief murderer and dictator of the U.S.S.R., devised the most devastating system of poison labs and bio-weapons the world had yet seen. In his effort to consolidate power, his assassins spread across the globe, striking dead dozens of famed exiles even as he slaughtered millions of his own people. But the dictator’s diabolical fascination with toxins did not end with his death or even the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In The Dancer and the Devil, #1 national bestselling author John O’Neill teams up with Sarah Wynne to expose the toxic reign of terror continuing today. Engaging as a novel and packed with historical research and testimonies from modern victims of Communism, The Dancer and the Devil reveals how the spirit of Stalin lives on in the hideous human experiments being conducted in the concentration camps of North Korea, in Putin’s blatant assassination plots, and in the bioweapon plans of the People’s Republic of China.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2022
40 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 30, 2022
Truely great
This book encapsulates our century of dalliance with communism and it is found wanting. 100,000,000 murdered to 'serve' the common man is so clearly proof enough of its folly. The symbolism of Pavlov a and others is pointing and true. Please read, think and share.
This book encapsulates our century of dalliance with communism and it is found wanting. 100,000,000 murdered to 'serve' the common man is so clearly proof enough of its folly. The symbolism of Pavlov a and others is pointing and true. Please read, think and share.
May 15, 2022
The Dancer and the Devil masterfully crafts together several amazing stories to provide a vivid description of a frightening problem that continues to this day. The book describes the mysterious death of Anna Pavlova and details the history of the Soviet program to eliminate dissidents through secret poisonings. Anyone would enjoy this book, especially people interested in history or learning more about the Soviet Union. The book also provides a warning about the issues in present-day Russia that have become familiar to many after the invasion of Ukraine.
July 27, 2022
This book caused me to search up the people mentioned and find other books about them. The content makes for not great bedtime reading, but it’s important history. And while reading, none of it seemed far fetched. It’s all very plausible and not terribly surprising. The devil is alive and well. Thanks to Sarah and John for some amazing research and presentation.
July 23, 2022
An unvarnished analysis of the origins and modern, global consequences of tyranny and communism in Russia and China.
May 10, 2023
Disturbing.
August 18, 2023
3.5 stars although rounded up for the history detail and categorization forms. The ending of notes / research is excellent and also interesting. Wide.
The title is not inclusive enough to portent or description of what lies within the book. Lubyanka is nothing new to my generation of Americans. Or the things that have went on within it. Young Communist enthusiasts choose to have almost no idea. Or will most easily dismiss that eternal answer to Communist operations of practical applications.
What they (Communists) have done to others and also to each other! It's not only poison. But it is eternally overlooked how often that has been the case. Never addressed in the ways that other genocides or wars or even revolutions have been parsed by history. And it still and very much goes on presently.
Starvation and eliminating are the keys to success of this massive must "group think". You must or you are fodder. And this book will give you sharp incite to many of the where and how. All the way up to Covid-19 with virus plan and ploy.
The book could be rated 3 stars easily because Pavlova as a main theme (and it does run throughout regardless of the low star reviewer stating it is only the 1st chapter- it is not) character used to highlight how media/ fame/ PR works? Well, it is a method excellent in quotes used but not as much in complete relevance. Maybe only as a symbol. The famous or connected or talented or influential eliminated here- only the few out of many millions that need to go of the "old" in order to reapportion the "new". Many more to demise than any other far more heralded for memory humans killing humans purposely agenda. Not only with camps used almost as factory lines to the cemetery or mass grave field either.
The photos were 6 stars. Especially seeing and observing how Stalin eliminated the front faces from the past in recording as clearly as he did the living of the present. He was the Devil as O'Neill finely defined.
Worth the read. Absolutely. I never knew Anna Pavlova was so tiny.
The title is not inclusive enough to portent or description of what lies within the book. Lubyanka is nothing new to my generation of Americans. Or the things that have went on within it. Young Communist enthusiasts choose to have almost no idea. Or will most easily dismiss that eternal answer to Communist operations of practical applications.
What they (Communists) have done to others and also to each other! It's not only poison. But it is eternally overlooked how often that has been the case. Never addressed in the ways that other genocides or wars or even revolutions have been parsed by history. And it still and very much goes on presently.
Starvation and eliminating are the keys to success of this massive must "group think". You must or you are fodder. And this book will give you sharp incite to many of the where and how. All the way up to Covid-19 with virus plan and ploy.
The book could be rated 3 stars easily because Pavlova as a main theme (and it does run throughout regardless of the low star reviewer stating it is only the 1st chapter- it is not) character used to highlight how media/ fame/ PR works? Well, it is a method excellent in quotes used but not as much in complete relevance. Maybe only as a symbol. The famous or connected or talented or influential eliminated here- only the few out of many millions that need to go of the "old" in order to reapportion the "new". Many more to demise than any other far more heralded for memory humans killing humans purposely agenda. Not only with camps used almost as factory lines to the cemetery or mass grave field either.
The photos were 6 stars. Especially seeing and observing how Stalin eliminated the front faces from the past in recording as clearly as he did the living of the present. He was the Devil as O'Neill finely defined.
Worth the read. Absolutely. I never knew Anna Pavlova was so tiny.
November 3, 2022
First, the title needs to be more descriptive of the book, i.e. Stalin and His Poisoners, Russia’s and China’s History in Bio Terrorism, How To Kill & Make It Look Like A Natural Death, China and How the Corona Virus Was Born …
Being very generous, maybe 5% of the book has to do with “The Dancer”.
The author hasn’t met a gruesome poisoning death that he won’t describe. Enough already. Too many repeating of: the death descriptions, gun shot to the back of the head, how the basement in Lubyanka is slanted and has a drain, and many more. I kept thinking, ok now, that’s the 3rd time you mentioned that.
The book could easily be edited down to a few articles.
Being very generous, maybe 5% of the book has to do with “The Dancer”.
The author hasn’t met a gruesome poisoning death that he won’t describe. Enough already. Too many repeating of: the death descriptions, gun shot to the back of the head, how the basement in Lubyanka is slanted and has a drain, and many more. I kept thinking, ok now, that’s the 3rd time you mentioned that.
The book could easily be edited down to a few articles.
October 1, 2022
Polomical.
January 10, 2024
Enjoyed.
September 18, 2023
This book has certainly prompted further inquiry. (That's a good thing.) I frequently read about Soviet and Russian assassinations via poisons; therefore, there were no surprises. However, I wasn't aware that Stalin had planned a preemptive nuclear strike and, therefore, was poisoned himself. It's an interesting theory that COVID was a biological weapon that escaped. Eternal vigilance is always required.
May 2, 2023
Very informative how Russia terrorized their enemies through poisoning and torture.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews