ROBERT CONQUEST, THE HISTORIAN.

ROBERT CONQUEST, THE HISTORIAN. Robert Conquest’s major historical work, THE GREAT TERROR, published in 1968, contended that around 20 million people had been killed under Stalin. As this obituary in the Telegraph indicates, he was much derided by those who thought the figure was much too high. After the Soviet archives were opened, Conquest’s figures were vindicated (and some Russian historians think the number is at least 25 million killed). This wikipedia entry tells how when Conquest was considering a title for an update of THE GREAT TERROR (which was eventually entitled THE GREAT TERROR: A REASSESSMENT), he asked his friend Kingsley Amis for a suggested title. Amis proposed: I TOLD YOU SO, YOU FUCKING FOOLS.