Stalin remains one of the creators of our world - like Hitler, the personification of evil. Yet Stalin hid his past and remains mysterious. This enthralling biography that reads like a thriller finally unveils the secret but extraordinary journey of the Georgian cobbler's son who became the Red Tsar. What forms such a merciless psychopath and consummate politician? Was he illegitimate? Did he owe everything to his mother - was she whore or saint? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin's chief gangster? Was he to blame for his wife's premature death? If he really missed the 1917 Revolution, how did he emerge so powerful? Born in poverty, exceptional in his studies, this charismatic but dangerous boy was hailed as a romantic poet, trained as a priest, but found his mission as fanatical revolutionary. The secret world of Joseph Conrad-style terrorism was Stalin's natural habitat, where he charmed his future courtiers, made the enemies he later liquidated, and abandoned his many mistresses and children. Montefiore shows how the murderous paranoia and gangsterism of the criminal underworld, combined with pitiless ideology, taught Stalin how to triumph in the Kremlin.

西蒙·蒙蒂菲奥里（Simon Sebag Montefiore）

1965年在英国出生，知名历史学家，英国皇家文学学会研究员。他曾在剑桥大学攻读历史专业，著有多部历史类著作。其作品被翻译成50余种语言，先后斩获英国科斯塔传记奖、美国《洛杉矶时报》传记图书奖、法兰西学院大奖，以及奥地利克莱斯基政治文学奖等众多大奖。著有《耶路撒冷三千年》《青年斯大林》《大人物的世界史》等经典历史巨著。

《新闻周刊》评论西蒙能将庞大的历史书籍写成极为好看的惊悚作品；他知道怎样才能让历史变得浅显易懂；他的博学、睿智使人忍不住想向美国国务卿推荐，聘请他担任幕僚。

西蒙·蒙蒂菲奥里作品

《耶路撒冷三千年》（Jerusalem: The Biography）

《大人物的世界史》（Titans of History）

《青年斯大林》（Young Stalin）

译者介绍

徐展雄

译者、导演、编剧。译有《黑色电影》《重访希区柯克》《凶年》等多部作品。编剧作品有《功夫瑜伽》《心理罪》等。