Author: Orlando Figes File Type: pdf It is history on an epic yet human scale. Vast in scope, exhaustive in original research, written with passion, narrative skill, and human sympathy, A Peoples Tragedy is a profound account of the Russian Revolution for a new generation. Many consider the Russian Revolution to be the most significant event of the twentieth century. Distinguished scholar Orlando Figes presents a panorama of Russian society on the eve of that revolution, and then narrates the story of how these social forces were violently erased. Within the broad stokes of war and revolution are miniature histories of individuals, in which Figes follows the main players fortunes as they saw their hopes die and their world crash into ruins. Unlike previous accounts that trace the origins of the revolution to overreaching political forces and ideals, Figes argues that the failure of democracy in 1917 was deeply rooted in Russian culture and social history and that what had started as a peoples revolution contained the seeds of its degeneration into violence and dictatorship. A Peoples Tragedy is a masterful and original synthesis by a mature scholar, presented in a compelling and accessibly human narrative.Amazon.com ReviewWritten in a narrative style that captures both the scope and detail of the Russian revolution, Orlando Figess history is certain to become one of the most important contemporary studies of Russia as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. With an almost cinematic eye, Figes captures the broad movements of war and revolution, never losing sight of the individuals whose lives make up his subject. He makes use of personal papers and personal histories to illustrate the effects the revolution wrought on a human scale, while providing a convincing and detailed understanding of the role of workers, peasants, and soldiers in the revolution. He moves deftly from topics such as the grand social forces and mass movements that made up the revolution to profiles of key personalities and representative characters. Figess themes of the Russian revolution as a tragedy for the Russian people as a whole and for the millions of individuals who lost their lives to the brutal forces it unleashed make sense of events for a new generation of students of Russian history. Sympathy for the charismatic leaders and ideological theorizing regarding Hegelian dialectics and Marxist economics--two hallmarks of much earlier writing on the Russian revolution--are banished from these clear-eyed, fair-minded pages of A Peoples Tragedy. The authors sympathy is squarely with the Russian people. That commitment, together with the benefit of historical hindsight, provides a standpoint Figes take full advantage of in this masterful history. From Publishers WeeklyPacked with vivid human detail and incident, British historian Figess monumental social and political history spans Russias entire revolutionary period, from the czarist governments floundering during the famine of 1891 to Lenins death in 1924, by which time all the basic institutions of the Soviet dictatorship?a privileged ruling elite, random terror, secret police, torture, mass executions, concentration camps?were in place. Figes dismantles any number of myths surrounding the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, a military coup rammed through at Lenins insistence (hardly any of the Bolshevik leaders had wanted it to happen until a few hours before it began). Using diaries, letters, memoirs and archival documents, Cambridge don Figes provides masterful portraits of cynical, power-hungry Lenin, driven by an absolute faith in his mission Alexander Kerensky, weak-willed, vain democratic leader, the self-styled savior of Russia writer Maxim Gorky, plagued by the fear?and later by the terrible realization?that the peoples revolution was a descent into barbarism Tolstoyan peasant reformer Sergei Semenov and dozens of lesser-known figures. In this vibrant magnum opus, Figes illumines the manifold sources of Russias failure to take a democratic path. Illustrations not seen by PW. 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Author: Michael Charles Howard File Type: pdf This second volume completes a critical history of the social, political, and theoretical forces behind Marxian economics--the only work in English to offer such comprehensive treatment. Beginning with Marxian analyses of the Great Depression and Stalinism, it explores the theories developed to explain the long boom in Western capitalism after the Second World War. Later chapters deal with post-Leninist theories of imperialism and continuing controversies in value theory and the theory of exploitation. After outlining recent work on the second slump, the integration of rational-choice theory into Marxism, and the political economy of socialism, the book concludes with a review and evaluation of Marxian theory over the whole period since Marxs death. Praise for the first volume Howard and King have done an excellent job... One comes away with the impression of Marxian economics being a vibrant subject, relevant to the problems of these times and useful in practical matters.--Meghnad Desai, The Times Higher Education SupplementOriginally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.