I am aware that not everyone has an obsessive interest in Russian history and Russian literature, backed by a completely useless degree in same. I feel sorry for these people and can’t really fathom why they bother to get out of bed in the morning.
Fortunately nonfiction graphic novelist Rick Geary has written a book of Russian history for a general audience. If for some incomprehensible reason you feel intimidated by Russian history—or if you actually feel disinterested, though I shudder to contemplate this heresy—you will find Geary’s book to be engaging and accessible. If you quite understandably already know Russian history inside and out, you’ll still get a lot out of the book: unlike other Russian history texts, this one has lots of really cool pictures.
The subject of this history is Leon Trotsky, architect of the Bolshevik Revolution. In a linear narrative illustrated with clean black-and-white drawings, Geary traces Trotsky’s life, from his childhood through his heady teenaged years, from his pivotal role in the Bolshevik revolution and the rise of Soviet communism through his disgraced exile, from his marriages through his affair with a very high-profile celebrity (you know her name, but I won’t divulge her identity), to his sensational and gruesome death.
Throughout the book the focus is on Trotsky, but Geary does a good job of placing his life into the context of world affairs. I love how the pictures illuminate everything, especially the bits that would otherwise be boring (“Ho hum, Trotsky’s been exiled again, yawn, OH HEY LOOK IT’S A PICTURE OF A TRAIN!!!”). And best of all? At the end of the book, Geary includes a bibliography so that you can pursue even more Trotsky reading!
Check the WRL catalog for Trotsky: A Graphic Biography
