My Disillusionment in Russia

This book, with a title she didn't approve of, is written by fascinating and unique anarchist Emma Goldman. It is part of a genre of works by anarchists, socialists, and former Communists who went to Russia full of optimism for the revolution and had their hopes dashed when faced by the terror, corruption, and incompetence of what they saw.

I recently read Memoirs of a Revolutionary by another anarchist, Victor Serge, which also offers a view of despair from the early days of the revolution but Goldman's account is a much different sort of book. While Serge gives us one terrifying scene and anecdote after another, Goldman's memoir is more like a methodical collection of evidence. He was given amazing access to a large range of important political figures, early Soviet institutions, and different geographical areas, and in this work she gives voice to not only her many fellow anarchists trying to find a place in the revolution, but to a wide range of different characters. She is increasingly harsh in her criticism but always separates her final condemnation of the Communists with her evaluation of the many diverse characters who worked among them.