Age: 49
male
Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996, for which they wrote and directed The Puffy Chair (2005), Baghead (2008), Cyrus (2010), Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011), and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012). Duplass co-wrote and starred in the horror film Creep (2014) and its sequel Creep 2 (2017), as well as the television spin-off The Creep Tapes (2024). He co-wrote and co-produced the television anthology series Room 104 (2017–2020). His other acting credits include Humpday (2009), The League (2009–2015), Greenberg (2010), Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), The One I Love (2014), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Togetherness (2015–2016), Blue Jay (2016), Tully (2018), Goliath (2018–2019), Paddleton (2019), and Language Lessons (2021). For his portrayal of Charlie "Chip" Black in The Morning Show (2019–present), Duplass received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He was also the lead singer of the indie rock band Volcano, I'm Still Excited!! Description above from the Wikipedia article Mark Duplass, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The novel explores what might have happened had Joseph Stalin been raised in America, postulating his parents having emigrated to the United States a few months before his birth, instead of remaining in the Russian Empire. It depicts Stalin (in this history, taking the name Joe Steele) growing up to be an American politician, rising to the presidency and retaining it by ruthless methods through the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War. The president is depicted as having the soul of a tyrant, with Stalin's real-world career mirrored by actions taken by Steele.
