Orlando Figes' "A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution of 1891-1924"

Craig M.: I can't discuss the content of the book as I'm yet to begin reading it, however, the condition of book that was sent out to me was very poor, despite being sold as condition "as good as new". This is the second time this has happened with World of Books in recent months.
I'd be very skeptical of buying a book from WOB that is listed as "like new". Pay the extra for an actual new copy, unless you don't mind staining, underlining, and turned over pages and a badly worn spine.

United Kingdom on Sep 17, 2023

Loretta Ferrell: He loves to read

United States on Jul 30, 2023

Lord Oklaw: This bookseller accurately described the condition of the book and shipped it quickly. It arrived quicker than I expected. The book itself goes into mind numbing detail about the preconditions that let to the Russian Revolution, going as far back as the 1860s. It is not a quick read, but very comprehensive.

United States on Jun 13, 2023

lou: Informative book from the peoples perspective. First order did not arrive but britbooks were fantastic at communicating and made sure I received a copy. Used book but still in Great condition.

United Kingdom on Aug 29, 2022

T. Graczewski: There are lots of books on the Russian Revolution. Few are as comprehensive and compelling as Orlando Figes’ “A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891 – 1924,” first published to wide critical acclaim in 1997.

Figes takes a broad view of his subject; his history stretches over nearly two generations, from the famine of 1891 to the death of Lenin in 1924. He argues for the 1891 date because the whole of Russian society had been “politicized and radicalized” as a result of the famine crisis and the Tsarist regime’s inept response to it. Tsar Nicolas II remained wedded to autocracy in the face of increasing calls for reform from both the industrial centers of his country and the agricultural peasantry. Hostility and resentment would fester for decades.

The author ascribes great importance to the personal role played by Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, in the Revolution of 1917. “Much of Lenin’s success in 1917 was no doubt explained by his towering domination over the [Bolshevik] party,” Figes writes, “which distinguished [them] from the Mensheviks (who had no clear leader of their own).” Indeed, according to Figes, “few historical...

United States on Jul 20, 2021

booklover: A masterpiece. Well-written, absorbing, fascinating. It's huge but I couldn't put it down and found myself reading snatches whenever I could - at breakfast, for example: it's very easy to pick up from where you were (unlike other academic books I've read).

Structured chronologically, it's a full account of the Tsarist regime's downfall, the revolutions of 1917 and the Lenin years. However, it's so much more than that. Spiced with personal stories and anecdotes, it is history 'brought alive'. The real strength is that political history is underpinned by social history: evidence of how these historic events affected people. The political and the social are equally valid and necessary.

I've have studied Russian history at A level and I've also visited Russia, but reading this book allowed me, for the first time, to really understood the Russian story, even some of the famous episodes. Much of Russian history is simplified, biased, made facile, or fudged. Figes shows that it is SO much more complex than you thought! But the joy of this book is that the complexities are untangled for you. At the same time, the real essence of things is exposed: Figes seems to really 'get'...

United Kingdom on Dec 19, 2015

J. Nichols: Whoever reads this account of the Russian revolution will surely feel that after the tercentenary celebrations of Romanov rule in 1913 there was nothing actually carved in stone on the wall of fate. It is with hindsight that we can mouth the still prevailing Marxist perception of history where feudalism had to make way for capitalism with imperial aspirations which in turn must bow out when the workers of the world unite. In actual fact in 1913 we have a scenario where "the side" that makes the least mistakes is the side that must eventually prevail. Time and again it is shown that there were opportunities missed that could have changed the course of history.

Orlando Figes admits it took him six years to write his physically unwieldy 900 page tome which covers the social history of the period 1891-1924 as much as the political events that shaped it. It might have benefitted being conceived as two volumes, but either way it must be granted that Figes is not dry or dull and where he occasionally gives way to a narrative account his book becomes highly entertaining. For non-historians it is possible to get a bit confused after the October Revolution with all the balooning...

United Kingdom on Mar 12, 2013

James Perry: Orlando Figes has written a very good book on the Russian Revolution. At over 800 pages it is very long. It took me about six weeks to read! Some sections were a bit tedious. I sometimes got lost in the explanations of the many parties and factions, and all the different governmental organizations that came and went. But if you are patient enough you will find it to be a very interesting history book. Since it spans the period from 1891 to 1924 you learn about the events leading up to the revolution as well as the consequences of the revolution up to Lenin's death in 1924.

Before the 1917 revolution, Figes explains how, time after time, Tsar Nicholas II had the opportunity to reform his government into a constitutional democracy, but instead he stubbornly stuck to his ideals that he must rule as an autocrat with divine authority granted by God. The Tsar comes across as a tragic figure who could have done better, but was stuck in the past. Also, I was amazed at how extremely rough and primitive the majority of the Russian peasants lived under the Tsarist regime. Their isolated world was confined to their own village and they had very little concept of the outside world. The...

United States on May 13, 2012

Mrs. RM KLEPPMANN: In describing ignorance, backwardness, brutality and oppression, Figes resorts to the usual images for the Western mind - medieval/ witch-hunt/ Inquisition /feudal/ barbarism of the Middle Ages etc. However, these images are populistic and contradictory to all historical facts regarding the Middle Ages in Europe, which is what all readers will think of. Figes himself says `... there is more currency ... in fiction than in history.' and he has fallen into that trap himself. This is surprising and disappointing in a historian.
Figes could also have made it clearer that `the church' and `the bishops' in his book refer to the Orthodox church - reminding readers that they can't extrapolate from the C of E to understand the relationship between church and state in Russia.

Having said that, I am impressed with Figes' work on Russia! I had previously known very little about that period and when I had the book in my hand I wondered slightly if I was mad attempting such a tome. However, I found the book as close to a can't-put-it-down novel as a factual book can be. He manages to write comprehensively (names, dates and events) but not oppressively.

United Kingdom on Jun 26, 2011