This essential introduction synthesizes the wealth of new material available on the Russian Revolution into a clear overview which is ideal for beginners. Leading expert Christopher Read treats the period 1914-22 as a whole in order to contextualize and better understand the events of 1917 and their impact.

Product Description: From a highly distinguished author on the subject, this biography is an excellent scholarly introduction to one of the key figures of the Russian Revolution and post-Tsarist Russia. Not only does it make use of archive material made newly available in the glasnost and post-Soviet eras, it re-examines traditional sources as well, providing an original interpretation of Lenin's life and historical importance...read more

Product Description: Christopher Read takes students through the history of the Stalin years, covering the key points of his rule from the late 1920s to the postwar years, using post-Soviet articles which provide more balanced and scholarly assessments of the leader's time in power...read more

Drawing on a wide range of post-Soviet materials, Christopher Read examines the reasons for the successes and failures of the Soviet system. He argues that the underlying reasons for the system's collapse can be found in the contradictions of the revolution which gave birth to it. The consequences are traced from Stalin to Gorbachev's doomed attempt to transform the Soviet system. Particular attention is given to the divergence between the aspirations of the leadership and the social evolution of ordinary Russians. (view table of contents)

Product Description: This highly readable and authoritative new study of the 1917 Revolution restores to center stage the experiences of the ordinary men and women of Russia's towns and villages. By examining the revolution in the light of these experiences rather than the activities of central parties and politicians, the book challenges many commonly held assumptions and sheds new light on the realities of living through and participating in such tumultuous events...read more

Product Description: This book shows that the rise of the intelligentsia occurred earlier than is normally thought, and that by 1922, rather than 1932, the underlying principles of the new Soviet government's policies towards culture had already emerged, "proto-Stalinism" being increasingly important...read more