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Amazon.co.uk Review
Written in a narrative style that captures both the scope and detail of the Russian revolution, Orlando Figes' history is certain to become one of the most important contemporary studies of Russia as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. With an almost cinematic eye, Figes captures the broad movements of war and revolution, never losing sight of the individuals whose lives make up his subject. He makes use of personal papers and personal histories to illustrate the effects the revolution wrought on a human scale, while providing a convincing and detailed understanding of the role of workers, peasants, and soldiers in the revolution. He moves deftly from topics such as the grand social forces and mass movements that made up the revolution to profiles of key personalities and representative characters.
Figes' themes of the Russian revolution as a tragedy for the Russian people as a whole and for the millions of individuals who lost their lives to the brutal forces it unleashed make sense of events for a new generation of students of Russian history. Sympathy for the charismatic leaders and ideological theorising regarding Hegelian dialectics and Marxist economics--two hallmarks of much earlier writing on the Russian revolution--are banished from these clear-eyed, fair-minded pages of A People's Tragedy. The author's sympathy is squarely with the Russian people. That commitment, together with the benefit of historical hindsight, provides a standpoint Figes can take full advantage of in this masterful history.
Review
"It is by far the best history of the Russian Revolution I have ever read."
-Frank McLynne
-Frank McLynne
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes,
By
This review is from: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1917-24: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 (Paperback)
I've always wanted to make some sense of the chaos of Russian History in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and this book comes as close to this as it is humanly possible. In addition to providing a rich and detailed view of the events in the period under consideration Orlando Figes manages to answer convincingly such questions as "Who is the main villain behind the disasters that befell Russia in this period", and "Why, for all their failings, did the Bolsheviks ultimately prevail". One comes away from this book with the distinct feeling that history is not the product of random forces, but the result of follies and miscalculations of some of the actors of history as well as insights and audacity of others.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece in Narrative History,
By Antonis (Cyprus) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1917-24: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 (Paperback)
There are few books on history that stand out in the way Orlando Figes' book does. A People's Tragedy is in simple words a masterpiece of narrative history. Figes takes the reader from the peasant communes of late 19th century Russia to Lenin's deathbed in 1924, in such a flawless, detailed analysis that one wonders if he is reading a book on history or a great work of literature.
And in a sense, A People's Tragedy is both. Orlando Figes is not only a distinguished researcher on the history of Russia, but also a master of narrative history. Reading this book, one can "see" the coronation of Nicholas II, the frustrated crowds filling the squares in 1905 and 1917, and the Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace in October. The detail and the extracts from primary sources which Figes uses throughout the book, bring the Russia of the early 20th century back to life. I could read pages and pages without getting tired - I found the book to have an excellent flow from one point to the next. Orlando Figes combines both social history and individualist history in his analysis. Thus he addresses both the factors connected with the Russian society at large (culture, class divisions etc), and the factors that are connected with individual historical figures (Nicholas II, Lenin, Kerensky and so on). Figes also uses the new Soviet archives that were at last opened for historians after the regime's collapase in 1991, shedding light in previously unresolved or debated historical issues. Furthermore, Figes addresses various historical controversies concerning specific events of the Russian Revolution, providing the views of left or right wing historians throughout the book. He then evaluates these views with the help of the new data found in the archives, disproving old views that do not stand up to hard evidence, or showing the difficulties in finding a clear answer concerning specific issues due to the lack of evidence. I found this aspect of the book to be both useful and respectful towards the reader. Figes is a historian who won't claim to have the answer for everything, but will show his readers the difficulty of establishing a clear answer to controversial events. This is in my opinion the best one-volume book on the Russian Revolution. Orlando Figes is a master on his subject, and it shows throughout the book. Full of detail, use of newly found sources, and wonderful narrative analysis, A People's Tragedy is simply a masterpiece of narrative history.
41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
whatever did happen to leon trotsky,
By A Customer
This review is from: A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 (Hardcover)
Having already read "Natasha's Dance", "A People's Tragedy" had a lot to live up to - it did. In this superb book, Figes describes the social forces and events that led to, then ruined, the democratic revolution in Russia. The book achieves a rare balance between the stories of the great personalities who helped shape the revolution, and the lives of the common people who felt its effects. He is even-handed, taking to task both left- and rightist interpretations of the revolution and the motivations of those involved; it is this impartiality that condemns both the old tsarist regime and the new Bolshevik dictatorship. "A People's Tragedy" is long, but is an enthralling, if grim, read throughout.
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