Originally published: London: Macmillan, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1879-1913 -- The family Bronstein -- Upbringing -- Schooling -- The young revolutionary -- Love and prison -- Siberian exile -- Iskra -- Cutting loose -- The year 1905 -- Trial and punishment -- Again the emigrant -- Unifier -- Special correspondent -- 1914-1919 -- War on the war -- Designs for revolution -- Atlantic crossings -- Nearly a Bolshevik -- Threats and promises -- Seizure of power -- People's commissar -- Trotsky and the Jews -- Brest-Litovsk -- Kazan and after -- Almost the commander -- Red victory -- World revolution -- 1920-1928 -- Images and the life -- Peace and war -- Back from the brink -- Disputing about reform -- The politics of illness -- The left opposition -- On the cultural front -- Failing to succeed -- Entourage and faction -- Living with Trotsky -- What Trotsky wanted -- Last stand in Moscow -- Alma-Ata -- 1929-1940 -- Büyükada -- Looking for revolutions -- The writer -- Russian connections -- Europe south and north -- Setting up in Mexico -- The Fourth International -- Trotsky and his women -- " The Russian question" -- Confronting the philosophers -- The Second World War -- Assassination -- The keepers and the flame.

Revolutionary practitioner, sparkling writer and icon of the revolution, Leon Trotsky lived a brilliant life in extraordinary times. Robert Service draws on hitherto unexamined archives to draw a portrait of the man and his legacy.

"Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize 2009" -- Cover.