The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread devoted to the discussion of the RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (people, locations, events, books and other publications, battles, historic sites, maps, research information, urls, etc.)

Please feel free to add any and all discussion information related to this topic area in this thread.

Bentley

Thanks, Bentley.

This is my favorite period in Russian history. I've read numerous books on Nicholas II and his family. When I get a chance, I'll provide a list of some good non-fiction reads.

That would be great Sera..I look forward to reading that post.

I also think that some of Tolstoy's books though not non fiction provide a vivid view of Russia and what it went through during that period.

Bentley

Amen, Bentley. Reading Anna Karenina really gave me some understanding of Russian life at both the peasant and society level. It would be good to add some non-fiction to the mix in my mind. Thanks ahead of time for making suggestions, Sera.

We could have an historical fiction section for those interested, I could set up a thread for that. Two of Tolstoy's works come to mind (War and Peace as well as Anna Karenina) in terms of vivid views of Russian life.

The group is really a non-fiction group; but we have had as ancillary reads some books of fiction though few and far between. There is a thread in the Conversation folder where any member can discuss any genre of book which they are reading. But I will set up a folder for those who would like to discuss some historical fiction.

I am very interested in any books regarding the Russian Revolution on this thread. What I remember about War and Peace was that the historical background dealt with the Napoleonic Wars. I am not sure if any war was the backdrop of Anna Karenina though I believe there was some Slavic cause referenced.

Dr. Zhivago is a nice fiction read for the period. It doesn't get heavily into the nuts and bolts of the revolution, but it does provide a nice backdrop for the events that unfold with the characters. I found that having a knowledge of the Russian revolution helped in the reading of this particular book.

Sera wrote: "Dr. Zhivago is a nice fiction read for the period. It doesn't get heavily into the nuts and bolts of the revolution, but it does provide a nice backdrop for the events that unfold with the charact..."

That is a great fictional read. Do you have some non fiction books that you have particularly enjoyed about the Russian Revolution?

I do, and my apologies for not providing them yet. I will post a list of some good reads in this category this weekend.

There is no rush at all; whenever you have time.

Thanks, Bentley.

I believe that the most comprehensive book out there on the subject of the Romanovs is The Flight of the Romanovs A Family Saga by John Curtis Perry. It takes the reader from Alexander II through the Russina revolution to what happened to the remaining members of the Romanov family thereafter.

Here are some other good reads in this area:

The Rasputin Files by Edward Radzinsky

Tough text to read, but filled with interesting information about Rasputin.

King Kaiser and the Czar by Catherine Clay

The role of these three cousins in the inception of WWI. Buttressed by first-hand accounts in letters written during this time, this book provides a very good timeline of events that led up to WWI, but focuses on the characters of the Edward, Wilhelm and Nicholas II and how the type of the men that they were led this conflict. This book is probably more geared to a WWI read, but a good chunk of it describes how the Russian revolution played a part in the European conflict.

A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra Their Own Story by Mironenko and Maylun

The Russian people hated Alexandra, deeming her to be a German spy. In fact, many Russians hold her accountable for the downfall of the Romanov dynasty. This book provides great insight into the relationship between Nicholas and Alexandra as told by the letters that they exchanged throughout their lives.

If others have good non-fiction reads in this area, I would be more than interested to expand my reading.

I haven't read as many books on this subject as I could or should but my favourite to date has been:

by W. Bruce Lincoln

Books that I have sitting in my library to be read include:

by W. Bruce Lincoln and BLACK NIGHT, WHITE SNOW Russia's Revolutions 1905 - 1917. by Harrison E. Salisbury

All I can say...your library must be overflowing..and your favorite dog must be right there with you. What great recommendations.

Bentley wrote: "All I can say...your library must be overflowing..and your favorite dog must be right there with you. What great recommendations. "

Hi Bentley, the old library is straining a bit, its now spread into two other rooms and my wife makes sure the dog doesn't stray in there in case of an avalanche of books!

Maybe you should put on an extension and just consolidate all of your books into one room for that purpose. You have quite a library and I am surprised that you are not an historian yourself; well in some ways you really already are.

Interesting reads, Rick, that I will definitely check out. Have you read anything good on Stalin?

Sera wrote: "Interesting reads, Rick, that I will definitely check out. Have you read anything good on Stalin? "

Hi Sera, to be honest he is one historical person that I have not read anything much about at all. I have a book on the Gulag's which covers most of Stalin's period but nothing on the man himself.

by Anne Applebaum

Sera wrote: "Interesting reads, Rick, that I will definitely check out. Have you read anything good on Stalin? "

I happen to be reading a superb book on Stalin right now:

Hi Neil..we have a request that we make so that our site can be populated correctly...please also add the author plus the cover. If the author's photo is available we add that; otherwise, we add the author's link like we have done below or as Aussie Rick has done.

Thank you for helping Sera.

Another interesting book that deals with the post revolutionary period (The 1930s, I think.) is The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia by Tim Tzouliadis. It describes quite poignantly the fate of the many Americans who had traveled to Russia to find work, to find a better life...only to have their passports taken away...many ended up in the Gulag. Very, very few were ever able to return to the United States. Such a sad, sad story (non-fiction).


Tim Tzouliadis

Adelle: That book looks absolutely fascinating. I'm putting it on my list. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're totally welcome. It's a relatively fast read. And it WAS fascinating. My friend said tears were streaming down her cheeks as she read it---but she does cry more easily than I. I had NEVER heard anything about these people before I read the book. An especially sad, shameful aspect was that they got absolutely no help from the American Embassy in Moscow.


(I've got a list, too. And I've heard wonderful things about Young Stalin.)

One book that should be here and I forgot all about is; "A People's Tragedy" by Orlando Figes. I think this has been one of the best books that I have read so far on Russian history.

by Orlando Figes

I'm currently reading "The Bloody White Baron" which fits within the time frame of the Russian Revolution. Here are some details of the book in case someone else is interested in this story:

by James Palmer
Publishers blurb:
"Roman Ungern von Sternberg was a Baltic aristocrat, a violent, headstrong youth posted to the wilds of Siberia and Mongolia before the First World War. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Baron - now in command of a lethally effective rabble of cavalrymen - conquered Mongolia, the last time in history a country was seized by an army mounted on horses. He was a Kurtz-like figure, slaughtering everyone he suspected of irreligion or of being a Jew. And his is a story that rehearses later horrors in Russia and elsewhere. James Palmer's book is an epic recreation of a forgotten episode and will establish him as a brilliant popular historian."

The New York Times Review

Today I came across a 1971 edition of "The White Generals: An Account of the White Movement and the Russian Civil War" by Richard Luckett (which I purchased). This may interest those readers who would like to delve a bit deeper into The Russian Civil War. The book covers the military campaigns and offers biographies on the generals who fought against the 'Reds'.

(no cover) by Richard Luckett

Neil wrote: "Sera wrote: "Interesting reads, Rick, that I will definitely check out. Have you read anything good on Stalin? "

I happen to be reading a superb book on Stalin right now:

[bookcover:Young Stali..."

Neil, I just came across your recommendation. I've been toying with buying this book for quite some time, and after reading your recommendation, I'm going to put on my "to buy" list.

Thanks much!

Having only read a few books on this subject I still think that Orlando Figes's book "A People's Tragedy" is in my opinion one of the best books on this subject. Does anyone else have a favourite book on the Russian Revolution that they'd like to share?

by Orlando Figes

I have Orlando Figes book. Not read it as of yet.

Its worth mentioning by Leon Trotsky and by John Silas Reed.

I have heard good things about these
by Alexander Rabinowitch
by Victor Serge
by Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev
by Alexandre Skirda
by Robert Service

Some good book's there abclaret, Orland Figes book is a great account, I'm sure you'll love it when you get time to read it.

by Orlando Figes

Thank you abclaret for some of your suggestions. We really do appreciate them.

This book is worth mentioning as well:

by Richard Pipes

Library Journal review:
The author, a distinguished Harvard historian, seeks to present a comprehensive view of the Russian Revolution, tracing its roots in the half century before 1917, a period he has already examined in Russia Under the Old Regime ( LJ 3/15/75). His new book, which will also be published in the Soviet Union, should provoke lively debate in the age of glasnost, for it is an unsparing indictment of Bolshevism. Wide ranging in its coverage, based on a profound knowledge of the Russian past and of relevant Western and Soviet scholarship, the work analyzes the direction of Russian development to the Revolution (without whitewashing prerevolutionary figures such as Nicholas II), then goes on to examine the origins and entrenchment of Bolshevism, which Pipes sees as a savagely amoral force. If Soviet power in its first years brought any benefits at all, they are, in this evaluation, insignificant compared to the ghastly price paid for them by the Russian people. This is an important book.

Sounds good Bryan, thanks for the information!

Orlando Figes's book is by far the best ever written on the revolution.

Orlando Figes

Have to agree with you there Jereome!


by Orlando Figes

Jerome wrote: "Orlando Figes's book is by far the best ever written on the revolution."

Hi Jerome, even when just mentioning just an author; we have to do a citation. When citing an author, it is only the author's photo and the author's link.

Orlando Figes

Please edit message 32 and I will then delete this post.

Aussie Rick, in message 33, you are missing the author's photo which is available; please edit your citation and I will delete this post.

Message 33:

by Orlando Figes

by S.A. Smith

Hopefully I won't get tarred and feathered for mentioning an introductionary text, but the Russian Revolution is a subject I've only just begun to explore, and this is a good work for a layman. It has good links and themes to develop for further reading. Plus, it's cheap and compact.

Thanks for the recommendation, RMF. The book is a perfect start for the subject which is a complex one to begin with.....so much was happening just prior and during the Russian Revolution that it is often difficult to keep it all straight. This book looks like it will provide a good base from which to read further.

This came out in October:

by Douglas Smith

Synopsis

Epic in scope, precise in detail, and heart-breaking in its human drama, Former People is the first book to recount the history of the aristocracy caught up in the maelstrom of the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of Stalin’s Russia. Filled with chilling tales of looted palaces and burning estates, of desperate flights in the night from marauding peasants and Red Army soldiers, of imprisonment, exile, and execution, it is the story of how a centuries’-old elite, famous for its glittering wealth, its service to the Tsar and Empire, and its promotion of the arts and culture, was dispossessed and destroyed along with the rest of old Russia.
Yet Former People is also a story of survival and accommodation, of how many of the tsarist ruling class—so-called “former people” and “class enemies”—overcame the psychological wounds inflicted by the loss of their world and decades of repression as they struggled to find a place for themselves and their families in the new, hostile order of the Soviet Union. Chronicling the fate of two great aristocratic families—the Sheremetevs and the Golitsyns—it reveals how even in the darkest depths of the terror, daily life went on.
Told with sensitivity and nuance by acclaimed historian Douglas Smith, Former People is the dramatic portrait of two of Russia’s most powerful aristocratic families, and a sweeping account of their homeland in violent transition.

Thanks Jerome. I agree there is much important history related to Russia that unfortunately is relatively ignored and not studied.

Jill wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation, RMF. The book is a perfect start for the subject which is a complex one to begin with.....so much was happening just prior and during the Russian Revolution that it i..."

I hope I'm not breaching guidlines by writing this, but the very short introduction books by open univerity press, cover a wide range of historical topics. Their intro to the French revolution is also good.

Agree with earlier posters that the Russian revolution can be overwhelming. Where do you start? 1917 or the roots of decline in 1905? Or Even before 1905? It's a minefield.

Sera wrote: "Interesting reads, Rick, that I will definitely check out. Have you read anything good on Stalin? "

Sera, I would highly recommend these excellent titles for info on Stalin:

by Robert Service

by Robert Conquest

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Glad to see by Orlando Figes is listed here. It is one of the best books ever written on the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik Seizure of Power.

@R.M.F, I'd recommend starting with the Russo-Japanese War and go from there.

I am reading Figes' book off and on, and I agree, it is the best I have read on this topic.

Historians tend to put dates on things to organize things, but Figes goes back to the mid-1800s for the roots of revolution.

Orlando Figes

Good point, Bryan.
R.M.F -- read Orlando Figes and go from there. :)

The Fall of Tsarism: Untold Stories of the February 1917 Revolution

by Semion Lyandres

Synopsis

The Fall of Tsarism reveals to the world for the first time a unique selection of interviews with leading participants in the February Revolution in Petrograd, sources that have been hidden for most of a century. Focusing on the pivotal period between the outbreak of the popular uprising on 27 February 1917 and the fall of the Russian monarchy five days later, these gripping, plain-spoken testimonies take the reader directly to the revolutionary headquarters inside the Tauride Palace.
The interviews present wide-ranging perspectives on the events, politics, and personalities of the February Days from a diverse group of key political figures as well as lesser-known activists, including: M.V. Rodzianko, the conservative president of the last Imperial Duma; P.V. Gerasimov, the liberal Duma deputy; N.S. Chkheidze, leading Menshevik and the first chairman of the Petrograd Soviet; A.F. Kerenskii, the future revolutionary premier; and M.I. Tereshchenko, the 'repentant capitalist' and Provisional Government minister.

Recorded between 1 May and 7 June 1917, months before the Bolshevik takeover -at a time when the outcome of the revolution was far from obvious - the interviews are free of any post-1917 hindsight and represent the most significant contemporary testimony on the overthrow of Europe's last old regime.

The original transcripts, which remained in private hands between 1917 and 2006, appear here for the first time. The story of the interviews is told in the introduction, including their incredible survival through many of the twentieth-century's wars and revolutions. The book also contains historical annotations, short biographical sketches on the interviewees, rare illustrations, maps, a glossary, and a chronology of events, placing this unique documentary collection in its wider historical context.

Spies and Commissars: The Early Years of the Russian Revolution

by Robert Service

Synopsis
The early years of Bolshevik rule were marked by dynamic interaction between Russia and the West. These years of civil war in Russia were years when the West strove to understand the new communist regime while also seeking to undermine it.

Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks tried to spread their revolution across Europe at the same time they were seeking trade agreements that might revive their collapsing economy. This book tells the story of these complex interactions in detail, revealing that revolutionary Russia was shaped not only by Lenin and Trotsky, but by an extraordinary miscellany of people: spies and commissars, certainly, but also diplomats, reporters, and dissidents, as well as intellectuals, opportunistic businessmen, and casual travelers.

This is the story of these characters: everyone from the ineffectual but perfectly positioned Somerset Maugham to vain writers and revolutionary sympathizers whose love affairs were as dangerous as their politics. Through this sharply observed exposé of conflicting loyalties, we get a very vivid sense of how diverse the shades of Western and Eastern political opinion were during these years.

David wrote: "Good point, Bryan.
R.M.F -- read Orlando Figes and go from there. :)"



The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia

Figes' book "The Whisperers" on how families coped with Stalin's terror is even better than "A People's Tragedy" and is based on interviews with survivors. It is both moving and inspirational. It's a wonderful testament to the Human Spirit.

Great, Antoine, good to know. I like this author a lot. Don't forget to add the author citation, and if you have a bookcover, no need for a title citation:

Orlando Figes

Thanks, Jerome, Antoine -- great suggestions.

I must have missed the news of the Figes controversies -- just found mention of them in some of the reviews.

From the sounds of it, I don't think the issue detract from the overall value of Figes' books, both considering the tricky nature of primary source historical research and the challenges of publishing works that might not be particularly appreciated by political leaders, but his reputation as an historian appears to have a few smudges nonetheless, a couple of them clearly of his own making.

It sounds like a lot of stress, perhaps a little ego, and very possibly some politics got the better of him. At the same time...sock-puppeting bad, Mr. Figes. :(

Still a great writer and a decent historian, IMO -- and I'll stand by that, despite having reasons to be somewhat indifferent toward the man.

David wrote: "Thanks, Jerome, Antoine -- great suggestions.

I must have missed the news of the Figes controversies -- just found mention of them in some of the reviews.

From the sounds of it, I don't think the..."

I also missed this controversy. I enjoyed his book

. I have yet to read any of his others but have earmarked them for the future.

For anyone interested in Stalin I read Alex DeJong's book as a child - it was a good introduction - easy to read and relatively thorough. It was almost 20 years ago now though and what seemed good to a 15 year old may not be as thorough as I recall.



There are some great recommendations on here which I will add to my lists.