Trotsky: A Graphic Biography

by Rick Geary

Overview

Trotsky was a hero to some, a ruthless demon to others. To Stalin, he was such a threat that he warranted murder by pickax. This polarizing figure set up a world conflict that lasted through the twentieth century, and in Trotsky: A Graphic Biography, the renowned comic artist Rick Geary uses his distinct style to depict the stark reality of the man and his times. Trotsky's life becomes a guide to the creation of the Soviet Union, the horrors of World War I, and the establishment of international communism as he, Lenin, and their fellow Bolsheviks rise from persecution and a life underground to the height of political power. Ranging from his boyhood in the Ukraine to his fallout with Stalin and his moonlight romance with Frida Kahlo, Trotsky is a stunning look at one of the twentieth century's most important thinkers and the far-reaching political trends that he launched.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809095087
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	09/29/2009
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	714,655
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.31(d)
Age Range:	15 - 18 Years

About the Author

Rick Geary is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. His most recent projects include J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography (H&W, 2008) and his continuing graphic series, A Treasury of Victorian Murder and A Treasury of XXth Century Murder.

Editorial Reviews

A concise and powerful overview of one of the twentieth century's most influential people.” —Michael Lorah, Newsarama.com

“Rick Geary deftly reclaims Trotsky for the middle class . . . Geary doesn't shy away from quoting Trotsky's writings that were pro-revolutionary and pro-violent uprising, but the book projects a sympathetic view of its starring character.” —Suzi Steffen, Eugene Weekly

“Geary's familiar cartoonlike drawing style and factual presentation make this title an accessible and concise introduction to Trotsky's life.” —Matthew L. Moffett, School Library Journal

“A swift-moving, generally accurate view of Trotsky's life, guaranteed to send orthodox Stalinists into fits.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An ace at history in comics form, Geary turns here to the Russian revolution as seen through the life of Leon Trotsky.” —Steve Weinberg, Booklist

From the Publisher

A principle architect and hero of the Russian Revolution, then a pariah and exile under Stalin, Leon Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, is a perpetually controversial figure, which makes the tameness of this graphic biography so disconcerting. Geary does a good job treating a touchy subject objectively, but that objectivity is detrimental in the long run: there is no context or commentary, no point of view, and while none of the facts and philosophies behind the Russian revolution are hidden, it is all relatively passionless. The text is basically a verbose time line, reinforcing the feeling that this book is a sort of supplement for some unseen history textbook. The primary customers for this book will be Geary's fans, and they won't be disappointed. Best known for his ongoing series of graphic novels looking at famed murders, here he recreates Russia of the period in his own distinct style. It's instantly recognizable while never distracting; detailed, but not cluttered. Occasional flights of fancy, like his portraits of Trotsky done in the style of negative and positive propaganda posters, are wonderful, and the book suffers from not having more like them. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

Gr 10 Up–Geary leads readers chronologically through Trotsky’s exile by Tsarist Russia, his instrumental part in the Bolshevik Revolution, and his varied roles in foreign affairs during World War I and as leader of the Red Army during a civil war. A key theme is Trotsky’s back and forth and back again relationship with Lenin. Lenin’s death in 1924 left a void for power-hungry Stalin to seize control and eventually force Trotsky into political exile. He met his death by a Stalinist assassin. Geary’s familiar cartoonlike drawing style and factual presentation make this title an accessible and concise introduction to Trotsky’s life.–Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA

School Library Journal

Illustrated life of Lev Davidovich Bronstein, aka Leon Trotsky (1879 -1940), "the brain behind the Russian Revolution."Lenin would have something to say about that bold claim, but there's no doubt that Trotsky provided intellectual guidance for the uprising and, briefly, the communist state that followed. The text and images are sometimes over-the-top even by graphic-novel standards; the angry kulaks and sinister, bomb-tossing anarchists could have come from a tsarist recruiting poster. Still, Geary (J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography, 2008, etc.) ably distills the events that occupied many hundreds of pages written by Marxist historian Isaac Deutscher and Trotsky himself, touching on such matters as the idea of permanent revolution and the impossibility of socialism in one country. Geary traces Trotsky's evolution from farm boy to bookish adolescent to revolutionary to Bolshevik strategist. He also provides a solid, if necessarily brief, account of the rivalry that developed between Trotsky, desirous of power, and Joseph Stalin, even more so, and the unhappy conclusion to which that rivalry eventually led. Why Lenin "did not promote Trotsky above any other comrade," however, remains a mystery. At least Trotsky, veteran of tsarist prisons and armored trains, got to dally with Frida Kahlo for a few happy moments before the end-but that end is plenty graphic, so to speak, and Geary does not shy from depicting it. A swift-moving, generally accurate view of Trotsky's life, guaranteed to send orthodox Stalinists into fits.

Kirkus Reviews