In Defense of Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) the leader of the Russian Revolution and Stalin's unyielding opponent remains an immensely controversial figure more than seventy years after his assassination in Mexico City. In this penetrating analysis and comprehensive refutation of three recently-published biographies of Leon Trotsky by well-known British historians -- Professors Robert Service, Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain -- David North raises troubling questions about the state of contemporary historical scholarship. In the June 2011 edition of the prestigious American Historical Review historian Bertrand Patenaude gives North s book high praise: "A careful examination of North s book shows his criticism of Service to be exactly what Trotsky scholar Baruch Knei-Paz, in a blurb on the back cover, says it is: detailed, meticulous, well-argued and devastating." Scott McClemee, a columnist for Inside Higher Education, writes, "I can only suggest that any research library that has added Service's book to its collection should consider acquiring David North s as well." Exposing recent efforts to denigrate Trotsky s historical role by falsifying history, North insists that their aim is to forestall a resurgence of interest in the great revolutionist at a time when millions of people are becoming disenchanted with capitalism. North reviews the decisive and often overlooked impact of Trotsky s theory of Permanent Revolution on the events of October 1917. He challenges today s historians to once again turn serious and honest attention to Trotsky s life and ideas.