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Yesterday, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia, an acclaimed book that is critical of Stalin, was dropped by a prominent Russian publishing house. The publisher claims the decision was based on the current economic crisis but the book’s author, historian Orlando Figes, says the purpose is clearly political. In December, police broke into the offices where Figes’ information was stored and stole many of the most sensitive tapes and notes. Figes says that this pressure came from the Kremlin, and publishers “are frightened to come out with a book whose history is inconvenient to the regime.”