Synopsis
Chronicles the Czarist Russian Empire in the 1800s, the birth of Bolshevism, events leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the development of new political structures ...
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up-In the first book of a four-volume series, Gottfried addresses the events leading up to the Russian Revolution. In his colorfully written account of this seminal event-what he characterizes as a "chronicle of a dream that failed, of a utopian vision turned to ashes"-the author effectively weaves the many strands of Russian history in the 19th and early 20th centuries into a vibrant tapestry. He discusses in separate chapters the Tsars Alexander II and III, Nicolas and his wife Alexandra, Grigory Rasputin, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Aleksandr Kerensky, Joseph Stalin, and the violent interplay among the peasants, Cossacks, upper class, and Russian Jews. He also persuasively portrays the devastating effect of World War I on the Russian Empire and how it helped lead to the rise of the Stalin dictatorship. Supplemented with large, clear, and well-placed black-and-white captioned photos and reproductions and boxed quotes highlighting the narrative, this historical study untangles the Byzantine complexities of Russian history while remaining true to the facts.-Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.