Ratings14
Average rating3.8
"Acclaimed fantasy author China Mieville plunges us into the year the world was turned upside down The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later, it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions? This is the story of the extraordinary months between those upheavals, in February and October, of the forces and individuals who made 1917 so epochal a year, of their intrigues, negotiations, conflicts and catastrophes. From familiar names like Lenin and Trotsky to their opponents Kornilov and Kerensky; from the byzantine squabbles of urban activists to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire; from the revolutionary railroad Sublime to the ciphers and static of coup by telegram; from grand sweep to forgotten detail. Historians have debated the revolution for a hundred years, its portents and possibilities: the mass of literature can be daunting. But here is a book for those new to the events, told not only in their historical import but in all their passion and drama and strangeness. Because as well as a political event of profound and ongoing consequence, Mieville reveals the Russian Revolution as a breathtaking story"--
Reviews with the most likes.
The author certainly likes to use a lot of million dollar words, and as a lover of language that's fine with me. The fact that reading this on a Kindle allowed me to instantly look up those million dollar words made me even more fine with it.
Language oddities aside, this book is a very good read.
This was a really fascinating read. The Russian Revolution is one of the most influential historical events of the 20th century, but it's one that rarely gets discussed in and of itself - most general history media looks either at what was happening before (Rasputin, the Tsar and his family) or after (Stalin's genocidal and totalitarian policies) with little time spent on the event itself. In this book, Mieville takes what is normally background and brings it to the foreground, and the result is an interesting read, especially given his quality storytelling expertise.
So this is a narrative non-fiction work. What I mean by that is that Mieville tells this as a story and not just a dry recitation/list of who did what and when. Very focused on the October Revolution with enough (but not a lot) of background for newcomers to this history to not feel lost. Also he stops at the moment revolution starts, because well we know how it ends and how the revolution was betrayed. Read it a primer or as a tightly focused story, it works both ways.