About this episode
Josh Ireland discusses his book on the assassination of Leon Trotsky and the political intrigue surrounding it.
London-based writer Josh Ireland is the author of three books and ghostwriter of five others. His latest is titled "The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy." According to Josh Ireland, Trotsky led two revolutions and a civil war in Russia in the first half of the 20th century. Leon Trotsky died on August the 21, 1940. The day before, in Trotsky's house near Mexico City, a man named Ramon Mercator sunk an ice axe into Trotsky's skull. He lived for 26 hours. Mercator, who had several names, was a Soviet agent and had befriended Trotsky. This was all the work of Stalin, Trotsky's archenemy. Josh Ireland's first sentence of chapter one asked this question: "When did Joseph Stalin decide to crush or destroy or kill Leon Trotsky?" His book tells the complicated story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
People in this episode
Host: C-SPAN
Guest: Josh Ireland
Topics covered
- Trotsky
- Stalin
- Russian Revolution
- assassination
- historical narrative
Keywords
- Trotsky
- Stalin
- assassination
- Ramon Mercator
- historical events
- Russian history
- political intrigue
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Mexico City
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