We’re thrilled to announce a Greek deal for Professor Kimmo Rentola’s award-winning non-fiction book  HOW FINLAND SURVIVED STALIN: From Winter War to Cold War, 1939-1950 (orig. Stalin ja Suomen kohtalo, Otava, 2016, 240 pp.): Papadopoulos Publishers has acquired the rights in a pre-empt! The deal was closed by Elsa Lindström at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

The planned publication for the Greek edition is spring 2024. Previously, the World English rights were sold to Yale University Press:

‘I am thrilled to be publishing Kimmo Rentola’s important work on Finland and Stalin. As the leading scholar on Soviet-Finnish relations, his intimate understanding of the intelligence history during this crucial period makes for a uniquely fascinating and revelatory read. And of course this story has huge resonance at the present time, with Finland joining NATO and the parallels between the Winter War and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yale University Press will be proud to publish Kimmo’s book in English in November 2023.’ 
– Julian Loose, Editorial Director Trade & Academic, Yale University Press London

HOW FINLAND SURVIVED STALIN: From Winter War to Cold War, 1939-1950

By Kimmo Rentola
A dramatic and timely account of Stalin’s failed invasion of Finland in 1939, and the decade of wars and fraught relations that followed.

✓  Winner of the Lauri Jäntti Prize for non-fiction literature! 
✓  Full English manuscript with updated introduction available!

How did Finland evade Joseph Stalin’s crosshairs three times? Did Stalin have a special relationship with Finland and the Finns? Why didn’t he continue the Soviet onslaught on Finland during the Winter War in 1940? Why did the dictator back down from his aspirations and demands towards Finland during the peace negotiations in 1944? Why did 1948 remain the year of an unfulfilled coup in Finland?
The answers lie in the relations between Finland and Russia. Joseph Stalin has been one of the individuals with the most influence on the history of independent Finland. The book focuses on the decisions of Stalin in which the entire existence or, at the very least, the essential nature of that existence, of Finland was at stake.