Isaac Deutschers Prophet books

[Led Zeppelin]

Has anyone read The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Unarmed and/or The Prophet Outcast?

It's a three-volume biography of Trotsky, and quite good. I'm reading the last part at the moment and am almost finished with it.

Probably the best biography I have read after Gorky's.

Opinions on it?

[Led Zeppelin]

No one? :(

I'm almost done reading the last volume.

[Random Precision]

Would you recommend it? Because I've been meaning to read it for some time, but I've heard that it reads more like a 19th-century romantic biography than one of a 20th-century Marxist leader. And the fact that Isaac Deutscher came to see Stalinism as a positive, progressive force and supported the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution turns me off just a bit.

[Leo]

Deutscher is generally acknowledged as a succesful historian. I haven't read all the volumes fully but I have read and used some parts of each volume. Politically, it is generally said that Deutscher is trying show the Stalinists that Trotsky is nice, but it contains lots of detailed and interesting information. I would recommend it as a historical source.

[Devrim]

I have read it all, and I enjoyed it. Although I disagree with much of the analysis, I think that it is worth reading, and gives a reasonable account of the controversies of the time.

Devrim

[Led Zeppelin]

Would you recommend it? Because I've been meaning to read it for some time, but I've heard that it reads more like a 19th-century romantic biography than one of a 20th-century Marxist leader. And the fact that Isaac Deutscher came to see Stalinism as a positive, progressive force and supported the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution turns me off just a bit.


There are some parts of it that are about his personal life, but the vast majority is about politics, which makes sense because Trotsky devoted most of his life to it.

Deutscher makes sure to explain every theory and position of Trotsky on various matters, but not only limited to politics. His literary career as an art is also described.

It is true that Deutscher put a lot of hope in the "destalinization" process in the USSR, and expected it to continue further and further under the pressure of the working-class. He saw in it the validation of Trotsky's theories....but he was obviously mistaken. Don't worry about that too much, because despite seeming hopeful about it he doesn't support it unconditionally or believe that it would inevitably lead to "democratic socialism", he just said it was possible.

All in all it is definitely a book worth reading. It's not only very informative due to its vivid description of political and theoretical controversies of the time, but also because it's well-written, and as a literary piece I appreciate that part of it as well.

[Tower of Bebel]

It's good (though I have only read one on Stalin). Deutscher gives a more analysed view. It's not just a sum of several facts.