While never ignoring the politics, Sebestyen focuses on the man who lovednature as much as he loved making revolution, and how his closest relationshipswere with women. He built a state based on terror, but the cold, one-dimensional2369figure of Lenin the political fanatic is a partial truth. He was a highly emotionalman given to furious rages and deep passions. Drawing on extensive newmaterial and sources that have only recently become available, Sebestyenshows how Vladimir llyich Lenin seized power in a coup and ran his revolutionarystate - and sheds new light on Lenin"s inner life, his relationship with his wife,and his long love affair with Inessa Armand, the most romantic and beguilingof Bolsheviks. These two women were as significant as the men - Stalin orTrotsky - who created the world"s first Communist state with him.