A revelatory account that finally unveils the shadowy journey from obscurity to power of the Georgian cobbler’s son who became the Red Tsar—the man who, along with Hitler, remains the modern personification of evil.

What makes a Stalin? What formed this merciless psychopath who was, as well, a consummate politician, the dynamic world statesman who helped create and industrialize the USSR, outplayed Churchill and Roosevelt, organized Stalingrad, took Berlin and defeated Hitler?

Young Stalin tells the story of a charismatic, darkly turbulent boy born into poverty, of doubtful parentage, scarred by his upbringing but possessed of unusual talents. Admired as a romantic poet and trained as a priest—both by the time he was in his early twenties—he found his true mission as a fanatical revolutionary. A mastermind of bank robbery, protection rackets, arson, piracy and murder, he was equal parts terrorist, intellectual and brigand. Here is the dramatic story of his friendships and hatreds, his many love affairs—with women from every social stratum and age group—his illegitimate children and his complicated relationship with the Tsarist secret police. Here is Stalin the arch-conspirator and escape artist whose brutal ingenuity so impressed Lenin that Lenin made him, along with Trotsky, top henchman. Montefiore makes clear how the paranoid criminal underworld was Stalin’s natural habitat, and how murderous Caucasian banditry and political gangsterism, combined with pitiless ideology, enabled Stalin to dominate the Kremlin—and create the USSR in his flawed image.

Based on ten years of research in newly opened archives in Russia and Georgia, Young Stalin —companion to the prizewinning Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar —is a brilliant prehistory of the USSR, a chronicle of the Revolution, and an intimate biography. A thrilling work of history, unparalleled in its scope, full of astonishing new evidence and utterly fascinating: this is how Stalin became Stalin.

西濛·濛蒂菲奧裏（Simon Sebag Montefiore）

1965年在英國齣生，知名曆史學傢，英國皇傢文學學會研究員。他曾在劍橋大學攻讀曆史專業，著有多部曆史類著作。其作品被翻譯成50餘種語言，先後斬獲英國科斯塔傳記奬、美國《洛杉磯時報》傳記圖書奬、法蘭西學院大奬，以及奧地利剋萊斯基政治文學奬等眾多大奬。著有《耶路撒冷三韆年》《青年斯大林》《大人物的世界史》等經典曆史巨著。

《新聞周刊》評論西濛能將龐大的曆史書籍寫成極為好看的驚悚作品；他知道怎樣纔能讓曆史變得淺顯易懂；他的博學、睿智使人忍不住想嚮美國國務卿推薦，聘請他擔任幕僚。

西濛·濛蒂菲奧裏作品

《耶路撒冷三韆年》（Jerusalem: The Biography）

《大人物的世界史》（Titans of History）

《青年斯大林》（Young Stalin）

譯者介紹

徐展雄

譯者、導演、編劇。譯有《黑色電影》《重訪希區柯剋》《凶年》等多部作品。編劇作品有《功夫瑜伽》《心理罪》等。