Kenneth Ackerman

Leon Trotsky spent three months in New York City before heading off to Russia to bring socialism to the nation. Despite his short time here, he had a lasting impact on the American left.

In his book Young J. Edgar, Washington lawyer Kenneth Ackerman describes how J. Edgar Hoover’s career took off in 1919, when he led the Palmer Raids -- a crackdown on civil liberties designed to rid the country of anarchists and communists. Not long after, he was chosen to run the ...