Sample
Trotsky in New York, 1917
A Radical on the Eve of Revolution
By: Kenneth D. Ackerman
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 23-09-2016
Language: English
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
4.5 out of 5 stars4.5 (2 ratings)
INCLUDED
Whispersync for Voice-readyLearn more
Play
Add to Library
More options
Share
Publisher's Summary
Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as coleader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the 20th century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.
Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there - just over 10 weeks - Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next 50 years.
©2016 Kenneth D. Ackerman (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
HistoricalPoliticiansUnited StatesMilitaryRussiaPolitical Science
More from the same
AuthorBoss Tweed
NarratorEon
Shadow Puppets
Deep Survival
What listeners say about Trotsky in New York, 1917Average Customer Ratings
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars4.5 out of 5.0
5 Stars
1
4 Stars
1
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars4.5 out of 5.0
5 Stars
1
4 Stars
1
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Story 4 out of 5 stars4.0 out of 5.0
5 Stars
0
4 Stars
2
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
Audible.com.au reviews
Audible.com reviews
Audible.co.uk reviews
Amazon Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars
William
26-10-2021
The Irony of Real Life
In 1917 Leon Trotsky, his common-law wife, and their two children arrived in New York and moved into an apartment in the Bronx. Trotsky had been forced out of Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain. World War I was in full swing and Trotsky was strongly opposed to the war, which he considered a war for the rich fought by the poor. The Allied powers feared that Trotsky’s opposition would destabilize tsarist Russia and force it out of the war and they wanted to keep Germany fighting on two fronts. Trotsky was relatively unknown but was committed to the overthrow of the Russian monarchy and the establishment of a communist state. He expected to be in New York for some time.
On arriving, he quickly threw himself into his work. He regularly wrote for a Russian language newspaper and contributed to many other papers. New York City was an amalgam of all of Europe. As an example, it had four daily newspapers in Russian, six in Yiddish, and three in German. As such, it was also a gathering point for the many revolutionaries who had been driven out of Europe over the recent decades and there were lectures and political meetings in various languages almost every night, which Trotsky took good advantage of. He gave speeches against capitalism and the war, though he barely spoke any English, instead speaking in German or Russian. He attracted the attention of the many Eastern European immigrants in New York at that time. He immediately threw himself into Jewish and socialist politics. He clashed strongly with many local leaders who understood that the best way to bring change in America was not through revolution but through a gradual process of changing people’s minds. He argued vehemently with local leaders over US entry into World War I.
America was one of the few countries that would take him at that and America was also in political upheaval. President Wilson had just won reelection promising to keep America out of the war and when he arrived the US was still neutral. But, in the short 10 weeks he was there, things changed rapidly and ended with Wilson declaring war on Germany.
And then came the news that the Czar had abdicated and a republic was being formed. Lenin was able to negotiate passage from his exile in Switzerland through Germany and Trotsky helped to organize a group of Russian returnees to all charter a ship together to return to Russia. He was waylaid by the British and held in Canada until the news got out and public outcry forced them to release him and he was off to Moscow to meet Lenin and organize the overthrow of the republic in favor a a new socialist state.
Trotsky was impressed with America. He was surprised that people could freely express their opinions publicly and even in writing without fear of arrest. He was shocked that they could strongly oppose the government. But, it was the dynamism and creativity that especially impressed him and he often talked about America afterwards. He predicted that America would soon become the leader of the world, replacing Europe. He later wrote, “The figures showing the growth of American exports during the war astounded me. And it was those same figures that not only predetermined America’s intervention in the war, but the decisive part that the United States would play in the world after the war.” He stated that, in the future, “all the problems of our planet will be decided upon American soil." He was impressed with America’s technology and science. “To have Bolshevism shod in the American way, that is our task!” The gap between him and Lenin grew and as Stalin’s power grew after Lenin’s death, Trotsky was sidelined and eventually exiled.
Ten weeks plus a few days. This book is the first book to focus on that time in America with, of course, plenty of background information to give the context that makes this understandable. Ackerman does an excellent job of putting it all together in a relatively brief package that both answers and raises so many questions and causes one to wonder what might have happened if he had stayed there even longer. This is a very interesting book for anyone who loves the little lesser known events of history.
2 people found this helpful
Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars
C. Green
25-01-2021
Small Subject Stretched into Good Book
Very well researched and written. I found it very interesting, especially the broader ramifications of the different actors in New York. However, as narrative goes, there's not much to work with in this time-frame. Trotsky is in America very briefly and there's only so much interest that can be had in such a brief and relatively unremarkable journey. That said, the author does a great job selling all that could be construed as interesting about it and it's implications.
2 people found this helpful
Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Trevor Hauge
19-01-2021
loved it!
I'm not personally a fan of Trotskyism but this is a great and entertaining book. I really enjoyed learning about his interactions with other famous revolutionaries or reformers of the time, Emma Goldman, Eugene V Debs, Hilquit, ect. I had no idea Trotsky was so connected to the American left at the time.
2 people found this helpful
Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars
Salvator Marinello
03-12-2020
Great Story; Ludicrous Conclusion
I enjoyed this book and the story told within. Worth the listen for anyone who is curious about the distinction between Lenin and Trotsky, and their philosophies,and how the seeds of the Russian Revolution were cultivated in NYC. However, and without offering any spoilers, the author’s conclusions with regard to what ‘might have been,’ are ridiculous.
2 people found this helpful
Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars
Uli Gor
01-12-2020
An unexpected link between Russia and USA
Coming from Russia, I knew quite a lot about Trotskiy and his role in the revolution, but I was surprised to learn about his time in USA and the influence he had here. I feel the author inflated the extent of his influence on the socialist movement in the USA (perhaps understandable, since the book is devoted to Trotskiy), but I’m curious not to learn more about it from other sources now.
2 people found this helpful
Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars
JohnDoe
19-04-2022
Trotsky was different from Stalin and Lenin
BUT he was no less evil. He was equally as brutal. His death was not a tragedy. Just a matter of who killed thebothers 1st.
Both the author AND the narrator performed admirably. i has not expected to finish the book, thinking I'd just be interested in his early life. material objectively presented. conclusions are my own.
1 person found this helpful
Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars
Anonymous User
05-12-2021
Another Book that Defines Communism
As Communist Russia still exist today, it still defines how cruelle it could be a system of governance. a Totalitarian design to the core as we have witness in most Communist states
1 person found this helpful
Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars
John and Elizabeth Geiges
21-10-2020
The absolute best
I’ve listened to several hundred non fiction novels and this is hands down one of the best . Went thru it in just a few days. Plan to listen to authors other novel on Audible.
1 person found this helpful
Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars
Arthur
27-09-2022
So many avenues
Such a complete description of this major time in our history. The connections, names and stories all come to life and bring such a clear picture to the mess that was the Russian revolution. 10/10
Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars
Shadow007
30-01-2022
Trotsky’s short time in New York City and why he was there
This book is such an interesting read. It is about Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky’s 4 month stay in New York City and why he was there. The book explains the various Russian exiles in New York and how they help both trotsky and make anti tsar content during the First World War. The book ends with the communist takeover of Russia and basically all the exiles leaving America either to live in free Russia or due to the red scare. I wonder what the book’s thesis was? But there is lots of good information and the book is easy to follow along.
Listen
See this imageFollow the Author
Kenneth D. Ackerman
Follow
Trotsky in New York, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution Paperback – August 15, 2017
by Kenneth D. Ackerman (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
Kindle
from $11.99Read with Our Free App
Audiobook$0.00Free with your Audible trial
Paperback
$15.29
4 Used from $9.863 New from $12.95
Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as co-leader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the Twentieth Century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.
Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there—just over ten weeks—Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next fifty years.
Read less
Review
"Ackerman takes the obscure story of Leon Trotsky's 10–week stay in New York City in early 1917 and succeeds in painting a picture of a man on the cusp of greatness . . . His brief stay in N.Y.C. may remain a historical footnote, but Ackerman clearly demonstrates the forcefulness of Trotsky's revolutionary spirit.” —Publishers Weekly
“Ackerman creates a lively portrait of this tireless agitator adjusting his personal life and his politics to a strange country a few months before the Bolsheviks seized power at home. In boisterous prose well–matched to his topic, the author also convincingly evokes the social ferment of New York's huge immigrant community . . . Ackerman succeeds in presenting Trotsky's little–known weeks in New York as an absorbing adventure, though much greater adventures lay ahead. An entertaining and informative account of a footnote to the life of one of the 20th century's most charismatic leaders.” —Kirkus
“Ackerman explores not only the revolutionary's life in the city, but the worldwide circumstances that brought him there and where he would head after. What emerges is not only a portrait of a man and the landscape of a city, but how the two influenced each other—and how the results swayed world history.” —Jacobin
“[Ackerman] is a gifted storyteller. He has unearthed a wealth of previously little known material and produced from it a book that is appealing and thought–provoking. . . . it deserves a wide audience. The author's empathy for “old” New York is vivid and deep, as is his fascination with Leon Trotsky.” —World Socialist Website
“Exhaustively researched, impressively well written, exceptionally accessible in organization and presentation, Trotsky in New York, 1917: Portrait of a Radical on the Eve of Revolution by Kenneth D. Ackerman is a seminal work on the life and times of Leon Trotsky.” —Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Kenneth D. Ackerman has made old New York a favorite subject in his writing, including his critically acclaimed biography BOSS TWEED: The Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of modern New York. He now returns to New York in a different era, the exciting eve of American entry into World War I, for his first major new book in nine years.
Beyond his writing, Ackerman has served a long legal career in Washington, D.C. both inside as out of government, including as counsel to two U.S. Senate committees, regulatory posts in both the Reagan and Clinton administrations, and as administrator of the Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency. He continues to practice private law in Washington.
Product details
Publisher : Counterpoint; Reprint edition (August 15, 2017)
Language : English
Paperback : 400 pages
ISBN-10 : 1640090037
ISBN-13 : 978-1640090033
Item Weight : 1.15 pounds
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.7 inchesBest Sellers Rank: #886,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)#394 in Historical Russia Biographies
#2,171 in Russian History (Books)
#4,296 in Political Leader BiographiesCustomer Reviews:
4.6 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
Read reviews that mention
new york world war york city political spectrum ten weeks eve of revolution trotsky in new russian revolution leon trotsky ken ackerman kenneth ackerman american lenin russia socialist america hillquit account bronx petrogradVINE VOICE
Top reviews from other countries
Robert Mark Hutton
4.0 out of 5 stars A 10 Week StormReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Trotskys short stay certainly produced debate about the way forward for American Socialists all are fully documented in this well writen book it hints at some of the reasons the Socialist Party never did so well in elections after the 1st World War. All in all a very good book that helps the reader to understand the differences in ideas between Social Democrats leader Morris Hillquit and the revolutionaries who would form the Communist Party.
Report abuse
D. H. Dickinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2017
Verified Purchase
good read interesting account of an important figure during the 1917 Russian Revolution
Report abuse
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly written historyReviewed in Canada on October 17, 2019
Verified Purchase
I love the way the author sets the context and describes things. You get the sense of being there and it reads almost like fiction, but without him having to make things up. The imagined parts are based on solid research, and he subtly but openly makes it clear what parts cannot be 100% certain.
Report abuse
No comments:
Post a Comment