"'Quite simply, a giant among biographies.' Robin McKie, Observer 'Reads like a thriller, gripping and terrifying by turns... No more absorbing biography will, I predict, come out this year, nor, given the dangers we face, a more important one.' John Carey, Sunday Times 'All previous works on the topic are, in the nicest possible sense, blown out of the sky by a book which is, in both the proper and metaphorical meanings, monumental.' Mark Lawson, Esquire 'No previous biography has...matched the power, range and lucidity of Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird's Life... Riveting.' Kenan Malik, Sunday Telegraph 'Dazzling... Rich in incident and enigma... It wears its scholarship lightly and whisks the reader through the story at thriller-like page.' Brian Cathcart, New Statesman 'Magisterial.' Robin McKie, Observer"

A contributing editor at The Nation, Kai Bird is the author of several biographies. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Nepal, with his family. Martin J. Sherwin is Professor of History at TuftsUniversity, and University Professor at GeorgeMasonUniversity. He is the author of A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies. He and his wife live in Washington, D.C.