A people's history of the Russian Revolution

This is a good, well-written book. The author has a way of encapsulating vast and sweeping movements in history in a few enticing words, and the book is tantalizingly readable from chapter four onward. The quotes are quite good and help to explain the narrative, and Faulkner (Marxist historian, Univ. of Bristol, UK) does not clutter his pages with difficult names and confusing crumbs of information. Yet there are flaws. Why did so many Bolshevik followers stay true to the cause if not for the redistributed land, which the author explains well, but also the promises of universal education, medication, housing, etc., which the author does not treat? What about the fact that seven out of ten names of the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution were Jewish--was that a revolt by Jews against Slavic dominance, reversed when the Slavs retook the helm under Stalin? Financing of the revolution seems to have been both Jewish and German. Although the book is well documented, Faulkner doesn't cite any primary documents, although the Russian archives are now open. There are some spelling problems: effect and affect, further and father, and so on, but those are the publisher's responsibility, not the author's. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty. --Nacklie Elias Bou-Nacklie, Johnson State College