Isaac Deutscher
Isaac Deutscher | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 April 1907 |
| Died | 19 August 1967 (aged 60) |
| Citizenship | British (from 1949) |
| Occupations | Historian, biographer |
| Known for | Studies in Soviet history; biographies of Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin |
| Spouse | Tamara Deutscher |
Isaac Deutscher (Polish: Izaak Deutscher; 3 April 1907 – 19 August 1967) was a Polish Marxist writer, journalist and political activist who moved to the United Kingdom before the outbreak of World War II. He is best known as a biographer of Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and as a commentator on Soviet affairs.
His scholarly biographies of Trotsky and Stalin have received widespread acclaim, with several reviewers ranking his three-volume Prophet biography of Trotsky among the greatest of political biographies; some criticism has been directed at his overly sympathetic tone for the subject matter. His biography of Trotsky was also highly influential among the British New Left in the 1960s and 1970s.