Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 : A History

from msaucier818

An enjoyable short history of Russia from 1891-1991. The argument of the book is that the Russian Revolution expands well beyond the years of accepted historical thought. I don't think it is terribly controversial and the argument was easy to make. A majority of the book deals with Lenin and Stal...

from fredbacon

Orlando Figes' new book provides a nice introduction to the history of Soviet Russia. The coverage is broad but not too deep as you would expect from a survey course of 20th century Russian history. For instance, the "scissors crisis" during the era of the New Economic Policy--after the death of ...

from SigmundFraud

A stunning and definitive history of the period by one of the leading authorities on Russian history. He has written several other books on Russian history that are worth a look. The fall of the royal family and their eventual murder and the Revolution and the subsequent rise of Communism is well...

from konastories

Joy's review: Figes gives a comprehensive review of Communist Russia from pre-revolution to the break-up of the USSR. I really learned a lot from this book; I never realized what a thoroughly nasty person Lenin was, how much and how many Russians still think Stalin was good for the country (!), a...

from madepercy

This was a rather easy read and was useful to fill a great deal of gaps in my knowledge. At the same time, the period after World War II seems to receive less attention than the period up until immediately after Stalin's death,so it is far from a complete history. Nonetheless, for an airport read...