First published 2007
Born into hardship, a young Georgian named Ioseb Jughashvili transforms himself into the feared dictator Joseph Stalin. A charismatic poet and failed seminarian, he finds his true calling as a fanatical Bolshevik, masterminding bank robberies, extortion rackets, and murder. As Stalin consolidates control, his pitiless ideology and criminal cunning allow him to outmaneuver rivals and dominate the Kremlin, forging the USSR in his own brutal image.
Genres: biography, historical-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, rise-to-power
Setting: Soviet Union, URSS
Period: 1894-1917, 1917-1921 (Révolution), 1917-1928
496 pages · Hardcover · Knopf