The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long
been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution, and here, on the
centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its
history.
In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an
autocratic monarchy: nine months later it became the first socialist
state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take
place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately
unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions?
This is the story of the extraordinary months between those upheavals,
in February and October, of the forces and individuals who made 1917 so
epochal a year, of their intrigues, negotiations, conflicts and
catastrophes. From familiar names like Lenin and Trotsky to their
opponents Kornilov and Kerensky; from the byzantine squabbles of urban
activists to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire; from the
revolutionary railroad Sublime to the ciphers and static of coup by
telegram; from grand sweep to forgotten detail.
Historians have debated the revolution for 100 years, its portents and
possibilities: the mass of literature can be daunting. But here is a
book for those new to the events, told not only in their historical
import but in all their passion and drama and strangeness. Because as
well as a political event of profound and ongoing consequence, Mieville
reveals the Russian Revolution as a breathtaking story.
