William Taubman's brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of one of the key figures of the Soviet Union is a study in contrasts -- how the boy from a peasant background rose to the heights of power; how a single-minded ambitious political player survived twenty years under Stalin; how he opened up to the West after Stalin's death & yet brought the world close to oblivion in the Cuban Missile Crisis Hugely acclaimed on hardback publication & winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Biography this is a magisterial work of political biography & a riveting insight into one of the giants of twentieth-century history It is likely to remain the standard work for years to come