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A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 |
Author: Professor Orlando Figes
Published: 1998-03-01 |
List price: $25.00
Our price: $16.50
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As of: January 06th, 2009 06:21:58 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 A good idea gone terribly, terribly wrong...
You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs and the Russian Revolution was one bloody big omelet. Orlando Figes does an admirable job of providing a look at the big picture of the Revolution--taking us back a good two decades before it began and bringing us up to Lenin's death, about a decade after. The advantage of this perspective is that it gives the reader an historical context for the events that eventually brought down centuries of tsarist rule and raised up the Bolsheviks. The obvious disadvantage of such an approach is that a certain amount of detail is unavoidably lost.
Still, for a one-volume treatment of the subject, you can't go wrong with this book. Comprehensive and informed, it is a generally lively read, as history books go. Figes tries to balance the personalities, the politics, and the events of the Revolution to bring it to life without sacrificing facts. It is a compelling period filled with fascinating characters--Rasputin, Tsar Nicholas, Kerensky, Lenin, Trotsky, Lvov, Gorky and that's just scratching the surface. Figes, not quite agreeing with the Marxist/Hegelian view that men don't make history, effectively shows the importance of the personalities of the Revolution's cast of characters and how a different man in the same place at the same time could have easily changed everything.
Figes tries to remain balanced in his account by pointing out where "right wing" historians and "left wing" historians often interpret events differently. His own view, in the end, is that the Bolshevik revolution was an idealistic concept that was doomed to fail when applied by and applied to imperfect human beings. The result was the erosion of idealism to totalitarian terror. If you are a committed Marxist, chances are you'll find yourself opposing the tone of this book. If you are a commie-basher, it'll probably suit you better, but Figes sympathy towards the more genuinely committed communists will probably aggravate your intolerance. For the rest of us, without a particular ideological axe to grind, Figes comes off about as fair and balanced as a thinking individual with the capacity for informed judgment can be.
This book is long, dense, and it'll take a while for you to read, but if the subject interests you at all, it's well worth the time and effort. It's also essential reading to understand how and why the Soviet experiment degenerated into the nightmare that were the Stalin years. With so much talk lately about America's turn towards "socialism" and the rising level of vitriolic and polarizing discontent with our government, *A People's Tragedy* offers unexpected contemporary insight into the dynamics of political and social change that should give us all pause.
Even if we're condemned to repeat history, at least we can be prepared for it.
History the way it should be told
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924
A People's Tragedy
Orlando Figes ("Natasha's Dance," "The Whisperers") has undertaken a monumental task in tracing the history of the Russian Revolution. Normally, a tome of over 900 pages wouldn't qualify as a "page-turner," but A People's Tragedy does. Beginning earlier than most histories of the Revolution, Figes provides an exhaustive history of the Romanov Dynasty and the history of the Tsars. Tsar Nicholas was a weak and ineffectual leader, more comfortable with micromanaging the empire than with planning broad strategy.
His insecurity was reinforced by various pretenders and sycophants, including the Holy Monk Rasputin, who seemed to have a peculiar hold on the Romanovs because of his apparent ability to improve the health of the young Tsarevich.
There was conflict between urban and rural Russia; between peasants and intelligencia; and between the landed gentry and the bureaucracy.
The theme of religion runs throughout the story
Like a good novelist, Figes includes several recurring characters like the writers Maxim Gorky, Tolstoy and Chekhov.
Curiously, as I was alternating between Figes' book and Thomas Keneally's excellent story of the Irish, "The Great Shame" I discoverd some parallels. In both cases, the reaction of the government to a famine, and the refusal of those in power to recognize the importance of ownership of land, contributed to the outcome of the story. Figes has made an important contribution to the history of Russia.
 Worthy effort though flawed
There are several problems with this overall well-executed tome that have been pointed out by others, but what I particularly took exception to was the evident eagerness to excuse bloodlust by the mob by reducing it to "violence." Professor Figes seems to believe that if a mob involved in social unrest commits an atrocity, then it can't really be an atrocity, especially if that social unrest blossoms into a full-blown revolution. This lack of a moral compass in favor of Power to the People is downright bizarre. Even a righteously angry mob is composed of men and women who possess the power of self-control, and whatever their justification for revolting, they are morally responsible for the deeds they commit when they let go of that self control. "Freedom" and "liberty" are no excuse for murder, rapine and torture, and the professor is very wrong to snidely cite Schama and Pipes as examples of modern writers with a "prejudice against violence" because they evidently couldn't turn a blind eye toward a revolutionary crowd running amuck.
And as a post script--unlike some reviewers, I welcomed most of the anecdotal material as a window onto the day-to-day struggles of the selected individuals chosen for the book. Figes' literary style is engaging and appealing, no small task in so daunting a subject. This history reads as well as his captivating social history, Natasha's Dance.
 When to eat a baby was normal
I read this good book, here in Brazil.This long book is about russian people history.Since 1891, until the Lenin's death by syphillis in 1924.
Massive famine, World War I,torture, civil war, genocides and canibalism are in full coverage in this good book.
The main defect of this book is to be so long.
Some photos on this book; all of them are black & white.
Absorbing and comprehensive
Wonderful. If there's a man who can write non-fiction books Orlando Figes is one. I wish he would write about other times and places, I would buy his books immediately. His other book on Russia's culture (I forgot the title) is also great. The best thing about this author is that anything he writes about, no matter how complicated it may seem or how foreign it may be, he makes it vivid and absorbing. Reading him is like having your best friend trying to make you understand something you've been studying but still can't get the gist of.
I like the way he presents us with the facts. It's not deferential to any political side. He talks about the people, not about ideas or policies. He lets us know how people lived, their environment, their heritage and personal backgrounds, how they felt and what they believed in, what they lacked and what they wanted. It's all about people. You see what they did, you know their circumstances, then you judge. I love that.
I did notice, though, that the author tends to explain (or should I say blame?) failure many times on lack of a consensus between factions, which seems to me a childish excuse, an easy scapegoat. Then, when he presents other versions of the facts, and compares them to his, he always makes sure his version stands middle-of-the-way between the "rightist" and the "leftist". But I doubt if there really exists any "rightist" version at all in some cases. Anyway, this book was a pleasure to read.
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