The statesman, scientist, and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) lived a divided life, and in the centuries since his death questions about his true nature have abounded. Deservedly called the "Father of Modern Science," and still best known today for his innovative method of scientific inquiry - a single deductive system covering the entire range of empirical research into the natural world - he spent most of his career immersed not in scientific research but in the cutthroat world of high politics. Was Bacon a noble scholar who longed for solitary contemplation of higher philosophical truths, or a conniving political crook? Was he a captive of his birth and upbringing, an innocent caught in a web of political intrigue? Was he a homosexual? Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart boldly pursue the answers to these questions through a mass of previously untapped archival sources.

Bruno Kreisky (1911-1990) is undoubtedly the most prominent and influential politician to emerge in postwar Austria. For some thirty years, he helped to shape his country's politics and raise its status in the world, first as secretary of state, then as leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party and as foreign minster, and finally as chancellor from 1970 to 1983. During his long tenure of public office, Austria achieved unprecedented levels of prosperity; he promoted electoral and educational reform and weathered the occasional scandal. His analytical mind and intelligence were much appreciated by statesmen in East and West as well as in the academy, as were his deeply felt humanism, integrity, untiring advocacy of tolerance and social justice, and his earnest sense of responsibility. These won him the trust and admiration of the leading international figures of his era, including Tito, Nehru, Nasser, De Gaulle, and Pope John XXIII. His international connections and his position as leader of a non-aligned state allowed him to assume the role of honest broker in international peace, human rights, and development initiatives. His stature enabled him to play an active part in the promotion of the Arab-Israeli dialogue and pave the way for President Jimmy Carter's mediation of the Israeli-Egypt peace accord through his close relationship with Sadat. As a result of such activity, Kreisky was respected and praised by every U.S. administration from Kennedy to Brezhnev, despite his support for the containment of Soviet communism. This annotated volume - a condensed version of the three volumes of the German edition and compiled by Jill Lewis, University of Wales, and Oliver Rathkolb, Director of the Stifung Bruno Archiv - gives a fascinating insight into Kreisky's life and his many activities. He lets us participate in the big decisions in which he was involved and shares his encounters with other world leaders of this time. Austria be a small country, but it produced at least one major leader whose lively and immensely readable account and wisdom many readers will find inspiring.

Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky’s extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience, yet there was a danger that his name would disappear from history. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. In this definitive biography Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution. This third volume of the trilogy, first published in 1963, is a self-contained narrative of Trotsky’s years in exile and of his murder in Mexico in 1940. Deutscher’s masterful account of the period, and of the ideological controversies ranging throughout it, forms a background against which, as he says, ‘the protagonist’s character reveals itself, while he is moving towards catastrophe.’

Trotsky's last battle against the Stalinist murder machine - the only book by him never before published in English. Contains all the articles against the GPU written between the raid on Trotsky's house on May 24, 1940, and his assassination on August 20. The record of a life-and-death struggle against the agents of the bureaucracy, 'Stalin's Gangsters' is essential for training today's generation of revolutionaries in the history of the movement and the fight for its security.

12mo. Light wear to edges. Creasing to covers, browning to page edges.

The Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga played a critical role in the history of his country for more than fifty years until his tragic death in 1940. The author of more than 1,200 books and 20,000 articles, Iorga was one of the most prolific scholars of all time. In recognition of his academic achievements, Iorga received honorary doctorates from universities around the world. Nicolae Iorga is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most important European cultural and political personalities of the first half of the twentieth century. It considers Iorga not only as a historian, politician, journalist, literary critic, playwright, writer, poet, and linguist, but also as an orator, teacher, and a human being. Written by Nicholas M. Nagy-Talavera, a leading American scholar, and based on archival sources and family documents, this book is the first biography to present a complete portrait of the world-renowned historian Nicolae Iorga.