{"product_id":"the-death-of-trotsky-the-true-story-of-the-plot-to-kill-stalins-greatest-enemy-9780593187104","title":"The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor fans of Ben Macintyre and Erik Larson, the gripping story of the assassination of Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky and the deadly game of cat and mouse that preceded it\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky invited a man he knew only as Jacques Mornard into his study. Mornard waited for Trotsky to sit, then smashed an ice pick he had hidden in his raincoat into Trotsky's skull. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor over a decade, Trotsky's greatest enemy, Joseph Stalin, had been trying to arrange his murder. Stalin's agents had hunted him across Europe and into a lonely, bitter exile in Mexico. He had liquidated Trotsky's family and friends, and yet Trotsky had always escaped his clutches. The man who changed this all was Ramón Mercader, a minor Spanish aristocrat and Soviet agent who had posed as Mornard, a dissolute Belgian playboy, and infiltrated Trotsky's inner circle. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Trotsky\u003c\/i\u003e, Josh Ireland traces the separate paths walked by each of these protagonists as they steadily draw closer and closer to that fateful encounter on August 20. Blending intimate historical detail and thrilling historical narrative, swinging from Moscow to Paris to Mexico, and taking in a cast of morally conflicted Russian spies, fanatical Mexican painters, and innocent American idealists, \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Trotsky \u003c\/i\u003edelves into the lives of two fascinating, complex men locked in a life-or-death struggle that would bend the course of history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dutton\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/24\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593187104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2025 pg. 81\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Josh Ireland","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52136349958325,"sku":"9780593187104","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_475f69db-8dd9-4bc2-90fb-5132db5214b3.jpg?v=1767114095","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-death-of-trotsky-the-true-story-of-the-plot-to-kill-stalins-greatest-enemy-9780593187104","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}