Stalin''s Loyal Executioner, drawn from still-classified Soviet archives, chronicles the meteoric and bloody career of Nikolai Ezhov, NKVD leader and security chief, revealing the tragic scope of communist terrorism under Joseph Stalin.

Marc Jansen teaches at Amsterdam University's Institute of Russian and East European Studies and has written numerous books and articles on Russian and Soviet history. Nikita Vasil'evich Petrov, author of several books and numerous articles and an expert in Soviet terror history, is vice-chairman of Moscow's Memorial Scientific Research Center.