A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution - Orlando Figes

Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, this book follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. The most vivid, moving and comprehensive history of the Russian Revolution available today. Unrivalled in scope and brimming with human drama, A People's Tragedy is widely hailed as the definitive account of the Russian Revolution. Orlando Figes weaves scholarship and storytelling to capture both the epic scale and personal cost of 1917. Gripping and compassionate, he draws on the diaries and letters of workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world degenerates into violence and dictatorship, conveying above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it. Illustrated with over 100 photographs and now including a new introduction that reflects on the revolution's centennial legacy, A People's Tragedy is - a masterful and definitive record of one of the most important events in modern history ‘A modern masterpiece.’ Andrew Marr ‘The most moving account… since Doctor Zhivago.’ Independent