A Concise History of the Russian Revolution
by Richard Pipes
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Description
Examines the 1917 Russian Revolution, including Lenin's rise to power, the killing of the Romanovs, and the famine of 1921.Tags
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Member Reviews
I had wanted to read a good history of the Russian Revolution, but I really couldn't make it through this one. This work might be considered a "classic," but Pipes' pro-Tsarist ideology is just too much to overcome. The one benefit of reading this book (or at least the first couple of chapters or so) is that I recognized pre-Revolution Russia as the exemplar state for 21st-century American conservatives. I.e., the government elite controls foreign policy and economic policy, and the people live in a libertarian paradise. Not of course that Pipes doesn't find some fault with Tsarist policy--but the only appropriate faults are those he personally objects to, not the ones that the Russian people objected to.
Wonderful but so very sad. A very readable, though still academic, book that gave some excellent insights into the Russian psyche as well as direct history of the country and Communist movement.
Wonderful but so very sad. A very readable, though still academic, book that gave some excellent insights into the Russian psyche as well as direct history of the country and Communist movement.
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Author Information
45+ Works 2,768 Members
Richard Pipes was born Ryszard Edgar Pipes in Cieszyn, Poland on July 11, 1923. Soon after German troops entered Warsaw, he and his family fled to Italy on forged passports in 1939. They reached the United States a year later. He was attending Muskingum College in Ohio when he was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1942. He was sent to study show more Russian at Cornell University. He received a bachelor's degree from Cornell in 1946 and a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1950. His dissertation became the basis of his first book The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917-1923. His other books included Struve: Liberal on the Left, 1870-1905; Struve: Liberal on the Right, 1905-1944; U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente; Survival Is Not Enough: Soviet Realities and America's Future; Russia Under the Old Regime; The Russian Revolution; Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime; and Vixi: Memoirs of a Non-Belonger. He served for two years as the director of Eastern European and Soviet affairs for President Ronald Reagan's National Security Council. He spent his entire academic career at Harvard University. He died on May 17, 2018 at the age of 94. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- História Concisa da Revolução Russa
- Original title
- A concise history of the Russian Revolution
- People/Characters
- Joseph Stalin; Vladimir Lenin; Leon Trotsky; Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia; Felix Dzerzhinsky
- Important places
- Russia
- Important events
- Russian Revolution (1917)
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 947.0841 — History & geography History of Europe Eastern European Counties and Russia Russian & Slavic History by Period 1855- 1917-1953 ; Communist period 1917-1924 (Kerensky, Lenin)
- LCC
- DK265 .P4742 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics – Poland History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics History Revolution, 1917-1921
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 331
- Popularity
- 95,249
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.61)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese (Brazil), Slovenian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 1
