CAUGHT IN THE REVOLUTION
by Helen Rappaport
The lives of the diplomats , journalists, ordinary citizens
and foreign expats who lived through 1917 in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg),
Russia as it fell from Tsarist rule to peasant’s revolt to anarchy to Leninism
is told in exacting detail by Rappaport. Her clear and compelling writing makes
this journey into disaster and terror real and immediate. She is able to carry the reader into the
unease that slowly begins to develop into the “practically bloodless” and often
times polite early revolution and that then descends into chaos and horror as beatings,
death, starvation and cold blooded murder escalate.
As well written as it is researched, the book is
surprisingly easy to read. The many (nearly 100) pages of notes will fascinate
those of a more scholarly bent. I just enjoyed the clear writing and minute by
minute detail. This isn’t a book for
everyone, but anyone with an interest in Russia or revolution or world history will
appreciate this book.
4 of 5 stars
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