A People's Tragedy

Despite Putin’s efforts to reclaim the positive achievements of the country’s soviet past, there is no historical narrative of the October Revolution around which the nation can unite: some see it as a national catastrophe, others as the start of a great civilization, but the country as a whole remains unable to come to terms with its violent and contradictory legacies. A landmark historical analysis of a crucial moment in history, A People’s Tragedy is now available in this centenary edition with additional material including a new introduction by the author. Unrivalled in scope and brimming with human drama, A People's Tragedy is the most vivid, moving and comprehensive history of the Russian Revolution available today. Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People's Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded. Illustrated with over 100 photographs and now including a new introduction that reflects on the revolution's centennial legacy, A People's Tragedy is a masterful and definitive record of one of the most important events in modern history. ‘A modern masterpiece’ - Andrew Marr  ‘The most moving account of the Russian Revolution since Doctor Zhivago’ – Independent Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London Orlando Figes is preeminent in the field of Russian history. An award-winning author, his publications include: Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia,Crimea: The Last Crusade, Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and War in the Gulag and Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991.