Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Sebag-Montefiore in 2010.

Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore ( /ˌsaɪmən ˌsiːbæɡ ˌmɒntɨfiˈɔːri/; born 27 June 1965, London) is a British historian and writer.

Family history

Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe. At the start of the 19th century, by playing the markets based on intelligence about the Battle of Waterloo, Simon's great-great uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore, became a banking partner of N M Rothschild & Sons. By contrast, Simon’s mother, April, a novelist, comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family of poor scholars. Her parents fled the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century. They bought tickets for New York City but were cheated and dropped off at Cork, Ireland. During the Limerick boycott of 1904 they left Ireland, despite offers of hospitality in Irish homes, and moved to Newcastle, England.

Early life

Simon was educated at Ludgrove School,^{[citation needed]} Harrow, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read history. He went on to work as a banker and foreign affairs journalist.

Montefiore’s books are world bestsellers, published in 33 languages. His first history book, Catherine the Great & Potemkin, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper, and Marsh Biography Prizes. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar won History Book of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards. Young Stalin won the LA Times Book Prize for Best Biography, the Costa Book Award, the Bruno Kreisky Award for Political Literature, the Prix de la Biographie Politique and has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Miramax Films and Ruby Films have bought the rights and are currently developing a movie of Young Stalin.

He also wrote a novel, Sashenka, and his latest history book is Jerusalem: the Biography, a fresh history of the Middle East.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children. His father-in-law is the Anglo-Argentine landowner Charles Palmer-Tomkinson, his brother is Hugh Sebag-Montefiore and his sister-in-law is the socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. His friends include Prince Charles, British prime minister David Cameron and Koo Stark.

Books

Non Fiction

• Jerusalem: the Biography, 2011 ISBN 978-0-297-85265-0
• 101 World Heroes, 2009
• Monsters – History's most evil men and women, 2008
• Young Stalin, 2008
• Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, 2005, 2004 ISBN 1400042305 ISBN 978-1400042302
• Potemkin: Catherine the Great's Imperial Partner, 2005
  Catherine the Great and Potemkin, 2004
• Speeches that Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments that Made History, 2008, 2007
  Speeches that Changed the World, 2007
• Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution: Bolshevik Self-Portraits (Annals of Communism Series) with Alexander Vatlin, Larisa Malashenko and Vadim A. Staklo, 2006
• A History of Caucasus, 2005 ISBN 0297819259 ISBN 978-0297819257

Fiction

• Sashenka, 2008
• My Affair with Stalin, 2004
• King's Parade, 1992

CDs

• Speeches that Changed The World

External links

• Author website
• Part One Booknotes interview with Montefiore on Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, June 20, 2004.
  • Part Two of Booknotes interview with Montefiore, June 27, 2004.