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Victor Sebestyen´s intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world.

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Victor Sebestyen´s intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world.

Lenin believed that the ´the political is the personal´, and while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen´s focus will be on Lenin the man - a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, and whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his ménage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend.

Told through the prism of Lenin´s key relationships, Sebestyen´s lively biography casts a new light the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.

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An excellent, original and compelling portrait of Lenin as man and leader Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR Victor´s books always receive fantastic reviews: ´Sebestyen´s strength is his sharp focus and racy prose ... Here is history written like a Greek tragedy ... In REVOLUTION 1989 nothing is taken for granted until the last triumphant page´ Michael Binyon, THE TIMES; ´[TWELVE DAYS] should become the standard work on the uprising ... A gripping read´ THE ECONOMIST, History Book of the Year; ´Masterly ... Victor Sebestyen is a marvellous guide to the Hungarian Revolution ... His nuanced, intelligent account is first class´ LITERARY REVIEW

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Sebestyen, Victor
Victor Sebestyen is the acclaimed author of TWELVE DAYS (W&N, 2006), REVOLUTION 1989 (W&N, 2009) and 1946 (Macmillan, 2014). He was born in Budapest. He was a child when his family left Hungary as refugees. As a journalist, he has worked for numerous British newspapers, including the EVENING STANDARD, DAILY MAIL and THE TIMES. He reported widely from Eastern Europe when Communism collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. He covered the wars in former Yugoslavia and the breakup of the Soviet Union. At the EVENING STANDARD he was foreign editor, media editor and chief leader writer. He is an associate editor of NEWSWEEK.

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