Rating: 
Summary: Great historical primer - gets complex later on
Review: I live and work in Russia, and have been studying the place for 12 years or so. In all that time, because I focus on the here and now, I have always felt that I lacked a real grasp of the history, which I try to fill in from time to time. This book is brilliant on the forty years or so that lead up to 1917. Figes brings you into the two worlds of the revolutionaries and the aristocracy. He is not starry-eyed about any of the participants. He is very clear about how the monarchy failed to reform in time, failed to listen to good advice, and basically brought about its own downfall. He also describes how the Tsarist secret police was just as nasty as its Bolshevik equivalent. All of Russia's totalitarian machinery was in place long before the revolution. He also describes how Russia's peasant culture usurped the Marxist ideals of the revolutionaries. This was a crude egalitarian culture, that punished people who became rich, by stealing or confiscating their property, that tolerated drunken layabouts, and that was generally happy to see no improvement in its standard of living over the course of the 19th century. These Russian peasants deeply distrusted the Bolshevik Jews, especially those who came from the cities to "educate" them. The accounts of the revolution are breathtaking, and all those famous events, like the Cruiser Avrora, are put in their place, as well as descriptions of how the military was mobilised to the side of the Bolsheviks. Figes' history of the First World War, and how it fit into the revolution, was also first-rate. So I would recommend this as a starter to anyone looking to get a grasp of the detailed history of the Bolshevik revolution. It becomes heavy going, as it details the factional fighting of the Bolsheviks post-revolution and post-civil war, and I lost track of who was on who's side. But this is only the last quarter of the book, and the fact is that these events are a lot less exciting than what happened in the first part. I am not a big expert, so I cannot compare this with, say, Pipes' book, which was the standard text when I was a student. My godfather, who taught Russian history at Oxford for forty years, thinks that Figes' book is the best that he has read. I certainly loved it, and strongly recommend it to anyone thinking about learning about Russia and its history. It's amazing how so much of what happened then is still happening today.
Rating: 
Summary: A complicated review- but Figes still fails
Review: I picked this book up for three bucks in a co-op. I got my money's worth, if barely. What I do like about this book is it makes the details of the disaster of Soviet Communism come alive. It gives details that I have only seen in two other compendiums, and he is especially deft at making the details worthwhile. As a species of the "bottum up" school of historical viewmanship, this is one of the better ones. As far as the rest of it- eh. Figes simply fails to grasp ideology and that ideas have consequences. It gave more than the distinct impression of being a measured retreat against what we now know about what the communists were. Being a student of Marxism and a collector of the thoughts of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, I found that Figes dropped the ball in nearly corner of the field when it came to accurately pinning the blame. In short, Figes political analysis sucks. I go farther than merely laying this at the feet of some supposed political problem Figes has (although that is more than abundantly clear from his bromides against Pipes), I put it at the feet of true intellectual dishonesty. Figes fails to note the simple tone of the times- the deliberate tone of the massacres and starvation and the Marxian theory that spawned it. I am trying to imagine what someone who tried to explain the political massacre of Hitler's millions the way Figes does the communists. Do we find that tone in the book "The Third Reich" when the Jewish Question comes up? No- people would be calling for the author's head, and rightfully so. Well I'm calling for Figes head. His book is a calculated retreat against the full blunt truth of the calculated political crimes of Lenin and his progeny. It is I paid three bucks for this big book. Don't pay more than that.
Rating: 
Summary: What a Deal!!
Review: I picked up this book by Orlando Figes on a whim. The Russian Revolution is an interesting topic so I figured that one day I'd get around to reading this massive book. I finally read it over Christmas break, and I must say that this is an excellent history book. One of the best I've ever read, actually. It is a real page turner, something very rare for a scholarly book of this size and scope. Figes certainly has the education to pull off this type of history: he was educated at Oxford and has written other works concerning Russia. Figes goes against the grain with this book. In opposition to such scholars as Richard Pipes (author of another huge tome I own but have yet to read), Figes believes that the Russian Revolution was in fact a "bottom up" revolution. Figes proves that the peasantry in Russia were sick to high heaven of a system that degraded them to a status of barely human. To the peasant, the most important thing was land and freedom from the state. All government forms, from the tsarist state to the Bolsheviks, were judged by how much autonomy the peasants earned under them. Figes actually seems to measure the success and failure of each government according to how the peasants received them. Not surprisingly, the tsarist system was a dismal failure. It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback with history, but the tsarist regime was pathetic. The list of the problems confronting Tsar Nicholas is too numerous to list here, but what is important to note is that this regime failed them all. Land reforms were desperately wanted, but the Tsar denied them. Nationalism in the peripheral states around Russia was not only denied, but a program of Russification was instituted that caused more problems than were necessary. The list could go on and on. The problem was power. The tsarist state refused to give any ground on the autocratic principles that the Russian tsars loved so much. Figes spends a good portion of his book discussing the failures of the tsarist system and shows how that system could have averted problems and maintained the throne (although as a constitutional monarchy akin to England). The other elements of government, the Bolsheviks, the Provisionals and the Whites, failed just as badly. The Provisionals were forced to tread the line between extremists and failed to reconcile both. The White regimes failed because the conservative elements that made up the bulk of the movement refused to budge on principles they enjoyed under the Tsar. Even the Bolsheviks failed, but their failure wasn't as pronounced because they were able to retain at least some semblance to the revolutionary principles that the peasants loved so much. Even here, the Bolsheviks had to make some concessions to retain power. The examination of the Communist regime is probably the most interesting aspect of this book. The Communists are given heavy treatment in this text. Not only do we see how they came to power, we get huge doses of their philosophy. Figes gives a detailed examination of the intellectual currents that gave rise to the Communist movement, as well as their actions once they attained power. What emerges is a bleak picture. Communism is death to all it touches. The Bolsheviks sought to not only rule by dictatorship, but to change the very essence of man into an automaton subservient to the state. Figes shows the reader the Red Terror and some of the other methods the Bolsheviks used to try and bring about this subservience. It is a horrifying picture made worse, of course, under the rule of Stalin. Figes states in his introduction that it took six years to do the research for this book. It is beautifully done and, I should mention, done by Figes himself without research assistants. I am amazed at how much information I have retained from this book, something that can't be said about many history books. I'd love to take a class from this scholar. His insights are fresh and his writing is erudite. Buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Academic Trash
Review: If one is interested in the history of the October revolution, one need not read obscure academic riff raff of this speculating fool. A people's tragedy? The real tragedy is that in 1891 more than half of Russia's populace couldn't read or write! Read Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution."
Rating: 
Summary: Why ask why? History rhymes
Review: If you look at pre-Soviet history, you will see starvation under the Tsars, peasant uprisings that were crushed; inner court people that were murdered by their rulers, and all of this is routina. That's Russia folks. Sometimes I think they are more Oriental that Western, and the Byzantine tradition merely reinforces that. If you want Figes to appologize for the 1 to several million Ukrainians that starved to death (remember, they also culled their cattle rather than collectivize), then you might as well ask the Turks to appologize for any atrocities committed during the Greek/ Armenian crisis. It's not gonna happen. If you want lots of trivia on history, knowing full well that historians often cannot tell you "why", because history rhymes but does not repeat itself like a chemical reaction, then this book is for you. Besides, I really don't care what the author thinks, aslongas they get the facts straight. So this is a good, albeit wordy, book on minutae.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on Russian culture, the family and revolutiion
Review: Mr Figes has written a study that reveals Russian culture as no other book I have seen. This forms the bases of a understanding of the Russian experience from the great famine in 1891 up to the death of Lenin. Without the details of peasant life the period makes no sense at all. Mr Figes brings in information of the childhood of many of the leaders. It was especially interesting to learn of the noble background of Lenins parents. Without this understanding of the hatred of peasant culture (where many of the leaders came from) by Lenin, Stalin and the other members of the communist party , the period of Stalins' terror cannot be understood. In short this is the best book on Russian culture and revolution I have ever seen. It is a long book but well worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: The Continuing Struggle
Review: Mr. Figes has captured the feel, the ideas and struggles of the Russian people throughout the last 150 years (give or take).He has clearly reasearched his topic and presents an impeccable account of life in Russia for those who were "ordinary" citizens. He illustrates very well the concept that outside of the bourgeoisie, there were only two "real" social classses: the aristocracy and the muzhik (peasants.)The aristocracy believed their good fortune would never end and lived life as such; the muzhik knew there would be another tomorrow and dreaded the fact; another day of hunger, slumlords, eighteen hours workdays and disease. This is not a book if you are looking for a "feel good" book, but it is a book that is real. It is everything we never learned in school about the Russian culture and, moreover, the degree of poverty most subsisted within.
Rating:
Summary: Finest all-around history of the Revolution
Review: One of the difficulties in selecting books on Russia, is that so many come with a built-in perspective and ideology. Facts which support a thesis are included, those which do not are conveniently ignored.
Of all the histories of Russia for the period prior to and during the Revolution, in my view this is the finest. From Figes we certainly get the big picture, and not only the key events, but also insight into Russian culture and the personality of its people, from the peasant through the professionals and the nobility.
But Figes has an eye for telling detail. The book spans a half-century, and as the text develops, he follows the lives of ordinary and extraordinary Russians during this time, in little insets within text body. As the major events unfold, we see the lives of individual humans unfold, and their thoughts and feelings evolve.
If I could only read one book on the Russian Revolution, this would be the one.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly how Russian history should be written
Review: One will rarely find a Russian history book that is so stimulating, detailed and original. Its greatest strength is its combination of the traditional "top-down" narrative - what went on at the Tsarist court, in the Duma and in the upper reaches of the Bolshevik party - with "bottom-up" accounts of what life was like for ordinary people in the cities, factories and, above all, the far-flung rural estates and provinces of Russia. Many histories of late Tsarist Russia, the Revolution and the early Soviet period are difficult to read because they are arid, lacking in human detail and burdened with abstract theories of little interest to anyone except self-important historians. But this book is extravagantly rich in detail and often written in an exuberant, entertaining style. One last point: the photographs reprinted in the book are absolutely first-class, telling as much about this period of Russian history as the text itself.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant read & incisive
Review: Orlando Figes has done a remarkable job of taking a subject as complex as the Russian revolution & turning it into a rollercoaster anecdotal read. The principal characters- Lenin, Stalin , Lvov & of course Nicholas come out finely etched. A wonderful read
| 
