Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: Orlando Figes is a rather controversial figure in his nativeBritain, but disregard the squabbles of academia. A People's Tragedyis the best book about the Russian Revolution EVER. Don't be put offby its length. A People's Tragedy reads like a novel--a great Russian novel!Figes is a dedicated social historian but he never loses sight of the Big Issues which are, ultimately, the only reason to study history. ( )A People's Tragedy, offer a fascinating, humane and very readable introduction to the tragic history of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: Orlando's Figes Book summarises the period
Review: Orlando Figes' book is not concise being 966 pages long, although it is a good read all the same, going into graphic detail using personal accounts for every important event. The main personalities of the period (Tsar Nicholas, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin) are all mentioned with significant detail. The most comical part of the book is the chapter on the Russian War effort and accounts of the Peter and Paul fortress- Figes' narrative account of the period is descriptive and helpful to both student and enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Good, non-partisan review of the Russian Revolution
Review: The American Civil War,the French Revolution,the Holocaust,and the Russian Revolution will always tempt writers to re-examine them, from a new generation's perspective. Certainly, idealogues and scholars will never tire of refuting the claims of their opponents, and dismissing attempts at writing a "readable" history of the Russian Revolution as dangerously simplistic. Figes' post-Cold War era history of the Russian Revolution is a good introduction to the topic. The definative "version" of 20th C Russian history is yet to be written, and it will ultimately be the task of a Russian historian free from the taint of Soviet "historiography" to produce such a work. BUT.. while waiting... this book is adequate. I believe it is impossible to read a single work on the Russian Revolution and form an objective opinion. However, objectivity is of more concern to the scholar than the lay-reader. Few scholars on this subject care to rise above sectarian arguments, and they share much in common with the irritating obscurantism of the Menshevik/Bolshevik polemicists. Personally I have always felt that Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" was a readable, if partisan account of the social and economic conditions which led to the Revolution, and that Roy Medvedev's "Let History Judge", was a suitable sequel. Certainly Leninism contained the seeds of Stalinism, if it was not the actual root stock and green-house of Stalinism. Trotsky, although a "hero" of my youth, also lacked " clean hands" after the suppression of the Kronstadt Uprising. It will be worth waiting to see if any definate and readable history of Bukharin waits in the wings. There are dozens of wretched books sitting in community libraries which purport to tell the story of the Russian revolution. Of the post Cold War writers, this is my favotite. Figes has an editorial slant, as do all popular historians. He does arrange his narrative in a readable format.. that is, in "digestible hunks". His use of personal narratives sheds light on complex issues,and his development of certain historical characters help move his narrative forward. His far ranging opinions include observations on post-Soviet political life. The photographs chosen for this book are good,and some are quite disturbing. They are well-arranged, to support ideas developed in the text. Opinions and belief shape our thinking, oft times more than actual facts. I think, that this book is a breath of fresh air. However,if the historical period is of interest to you, keep on breathing, and keep on reading. If this is the ONLY book you read about the Russian Revolution, you will certainly be no more mis-informed than generations of policy makers in the US government OR the Soviet government.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed Look at What Makes a Revolution
Review: The author does a splendid job of giving the reader a detailed look at the different political parties which existed during the twilight of the tsar's rule. What sets this book apart from most other history's of this time period, is the author's explanation as to why the Russian revolution was different from others (i.e. French or American). Detailed statistics on land ownership and other factors help the reader understand why Russia turned towards such a harsh and unforgiving political system. The only problem with the book is that it is assumed that the reader has some detailed knowledge of the time period and the various historical characters. Otherwise, it is an excellent detailed view of the period.
Rating:
Summary: Very memorable
Review: The book is voluminous and the period of history in focus is densely packed, but Figes's flowing style and keen interest in the matter keep one engaged. Through snapshot descriptions of many personalities that colored the times, the narrative paints as vivid a picture as any one book can. Kerensky, Lenin, Brusilov, Gorky and many others appear as much humans as politicians/generals/intellectuals etc. This especially makes the book memorable. The occasional roughness of style or omission of some facts (for example, the transformation of Gorky, the most often quoted source in the book, from a street urchin and an orphan into an educated and rich man) is more than vindicated by colorful personal and societal portraits and some provocative thoughts. With the backdrop of Nicholas II living in the patriarchal past and Provisional Government living in the future (ever waiting for the Constitutional Assembly), Bolsheviks emerge as the ones firmly living in the present, pragmatically resolving the conflicts of the moment regardless of ideology. They gave peasants gentry's land and in return, with peasant help, won the civil war. They exited the I World War (at the cost of a third of agricultural land and over a half of industrial enterprises) and infiltrated the soldiers' Soviets and in return had military support in the October coup d'état. They gave non-Russian peoples the right of self-determination believing that this would precipitate communist revolutions there. Of course, all these measures were later reversed. The land remained state's property and smallholding peasants were subjected to collectivization. The people were thrown into the bloody civil war and exposed to terror, starvation and disease (the conservative estimate of 10 million Russian deaths resulting from the October events far superseded Russian losses in the I World War, some 1.7 million dead). And the national territories were taken by force. Among these ever changing policies one was constant: the Bolsheviks' drive for power. Taking power by military force, shooting the Constitutional Assemblymen, taking the last food provisions from peasants at a gun point, putting Cheka, with its 250,000 members only during Lenin's times, (approximately 10 times the last Czar's secret police) above the law: descriptions of these events present Bolsheviks as a military junta more than anything else. They created a society in which the main organizing principle was terror. That, indeed, was the people's tragedy. Figes devotes a fair bit of space to the social formations beyond Bolsheviks. The Whites, with their unfortunate Czarist image and land property mentality. Peasants, backward and apolitical but crucial, as the Civil War showed. Soldiers, who let themselves degrade to marauding and shooting millions of their own people. Intelligentsia and politicians, many of whom, in a typically Russian way, preferred to haughtily abstain rather than engage. The book feels much tighter and more coherent than the author's "Natasha's Dance". In addition, appealing is Figes's sensitivity to the precarious historic moments when a very probable different outcome could have radically changed the future (almost reaching for peace in the I World War by the Provisional Government, almost not engaging in the military coup by Bolsheviks etc.). To summarize, very engaging and definitely worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Great History of Russia's Tragedy
Review: The title of this book says it all. The author lays out in detail the history of the Russian Revolution, and how in the end it was the people who ended up the losers. Written without an ideological agenda, the author shows how the Bolsheviks took over power by being the most ruthless, and least willing to compromise, group of Russian revolutionaries. Truly sad in its depiction of the initial resistance of the people to the Bolsheviks, and how this resistance was brutally crushed. This book lays to rest any myths remaining of the "popular" uprising of 1917. The revolution is shown for what is truly was, a takeover of a semi-literate society by a group of ruthless individuals willing to do anything to acquire power. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It's big, it's rich in detail, it's a great read, but ...
Review: This book is the War and Peace of the Russian Revolution. A PT is huge: in volume and in details. All kinds of interesting, and relatively unknown, cahracters are introduced to us by Figes. They shed a broader, more humane light on the revolution of 1917. In A PT Figes refuses to take sides with either the likes of Richard Pipes and Martin Malia, or people like William Rosenberg, Sheila Fitzpatrick and Dianne Koenker, who are labelled revisionsits. Eventhough Figes is no hardliner like Pipes and Malia (he even sued Pipes for libel last year, and won!), he is defenitely no apologist of Lenin c.s. either. He tries to walk the thin rope between the hardline approach and the revisionist approach. This is a good thing, since the debate (Or, as Edward Acton called it 'the dialogue of the deaf') between both parties wasn't really getting anywhere anymore. But, somehow, trying to avoid ending op in either "camps", Figes fails to deliver a good punchline in his conclusions. The question "why did it happen the way it happened" has, at the end of the book, not been answered to the full satisfaction of the reader. And that's a shame, because it's such a great book, written in brilliant and clear prose. So, if you like a good read and want to know what happened in this turbulent period, this is the book you want. But, if you want just a bit more (some answers e.g.) PT fails to fullfill its potential. And that's a shame. Because in the 1000 pages of the book, all bricks are their to be put in their place. The mason just, by a whisker, didn't manage to build the house he wanted.
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Summary: A Stunning Work of Literary Genius!!!
Review: This book is thick but worth reading every last page! I could not put it down there was so many fascinating facts and so many tragedies! The Russian people suffered a terrible fate when they turned to Lenin's Communist Ideology. It proved to be the death of some 60 million people! Russia is still reaping the 'terrors' of Bolshevism/Communism. Most Russian people are fearful, haunted, dejected, and extremely poor. Communism was no god but a losing ideology. It only helped those at the top and even they were hunted, fearful, killed off or put in labor camps. An excellent, information-packed book!
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Work of Literary Genius!!!
Review: This book is thick but worth reading every last page! I could not put it down there was so many fascinating facts and so many tragedies! The Russian people suffered a terrible fate when they turned to Lenin's Communist Ideology. It proved to be the death of some 60 million people! Russia is still reaping the 'terrors' of Bolshevism/Communism. Most Russian people are fearful, haunted, dejected, and extremely poor. Communism was no god but a losing ideology. It only helped those at the top and even they were hunted, fearful, killed off or put in labor camps. An excellent, information-packed book!
Rating:
Summary: A long, but ultimately rewarding, read
Review: This is a Big Mac of a book--824 pages long....everything you ever wanted to know about the Russian Revolution, and more. And yet it is a story that only recently could be told in the kind of detail Figes musters, most particularly finally putting to rest the picture of the "good Lenin" that Soviet Russia espoused for years until the fall of Communism opened the most secret party archives to show Lenin's hand in the mass terror that followed the revolution. What I found most interesting was Figes's emphasis on the critical role of the peasants, always a class that has been almost totally ignored because there are so few records from an almost illiterate countryside. His description of the doomed Tsar Nicholas and the corrupt and aggressively obdurate aristocracy makes the Revolution seem almost inevitable. At the same time Figes also underlines how critical Lenin's drive and determination were to the success of the Bolsheviks. He certainly convinced me that without Lenin, the Bolsheviks might never have come to power
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