In War's Dark Shadow: The Russians before the Great War (edition 2003)

In War's Dark Shadow covers the 25 year period from 1891-1914 (the start of the Great War). In fact, the book also mentions events going back as far as the 1860's for added perspective. This helps fill in some area covered in the 25 years under review. That said, this is a marvelous book discussing in some detail how Russians lived prior to WWI. The life of the peasants is particularly shocking. I was not aware of the condiltions under which they lived and were governed. Small wonder there was a Russian Revolution(s) and the Romanov's executed!

It is really a sad tale of how autocratic rule can become so far removed from the daily life of the citizens that upheaval and revolution become inevitable. The book also deals with the overall culture, society and ecomonics of Imperial Russia.. Of great interest to me was the impact of industrialization on the peasants in the agricultural areas of Russia. Once industrialization took place, these folks began moving into the citites looking for work and imrpovement in their standard of living. They may have found work, but their living standard did not improve; it may actually have been reduced in some ways.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Russia, the revolution, WWI or the raise of Socialism in Europe. Great Book!! ( )

Well written account of a very violent and sad period of Russian history. It compares favorably with other works (Crankshaw, Salsbury, Massie in particular) on the end of the Romanov dynasty. Russian history is about as tragic and bloody as any novel, and this is brought out admirably by the author. ( )

2640 In War's Dark Shadow: The Russians Before the Great War, by W. Bruce Lincoln (read 25 Aug 1994) This 1983 book covers the territory popularly covered by Harrison Salisbury in his Black Night, White Snow (read 10 Nov 1983) and by Edward Crankshaw in his The Shadow of the Winter Palace (read 8 Sep 1990). And also in First Blood by Sidney Harcave (read 30 Sep 1990). All these books explain why I did not find this book too informative. But some of it was new to me: a chapter on Russia's 'Silver Age'--the years from 1900 to 1907, about, was new and shocking--apparently the puritanical Communist attitude to sex was in reaction to the nuts of the Silver Age. ( )

In War's Dark Shadow is the history of Russia beginning in 1891 and ending at the onset of WW I. My main interest in reading it was to further my education about how and why the country ended up having a revolution in 1917. This book satisfied that objective. There are many chapters dedicated to the cultural climate......the peasant life, the small but powerful middle class, the Jewish pogroms, and the unyielding monarchy. Very informative! It held my interest as much as any good novel about Russia. ( )