Customer Reviews

Alexander Kerensky: The First Love of the Revolution

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Abraham's book is a bit wordy and caught up in blow by blow descriptions of back room discussions and negotiations of the period. He does provide a revealing portrait of Alexander Kerensky and his troubled government in the turbulent times of war and revolution. Worth reading for serious students of Russian history. A Contribution to the history of the Revolution that changed the world.

For serious students of the Russian revolution, or simply those - like myself - who are fascinated by the turn of events during this momentous period of history, Abraham's book is a fascinating and revealing account of one of the periods most important players in the revolution. Kerensky, who has often been derided by both extemities of the political spectrum ( the Bolsheviks and the Monarchists/Rightists) was in fact a committed Social Democrat, with a heavy leaning toward the latter political description. Abraham, throughout his book, tries to build up a picture of the man - with his inherent egotism - and the political revolutionary, and how the conflict between the man and his political ideals often lead to the false assumption that he was powerless and vaccilating. Whilst Lenin and his fellow emigre' Bolsheviks came in on the coat tails of the hard work done during the first - and perhaps most hopeful of the 1917 revolutions (February) - Kerensky and other hopeful Democrats were trying to build a future Russia where the kind of oppression suffered under the Tsarist, and then later Boshevik regimes, could have been avoided. Whilst Kerensky was undoubtedly no angel and did contribute to the eventual downfall of the Provisional government, Abraham, paints a picture of man that you can't help thinking may have helped in providing a more hopeful future for his people. Just think, none of the horrors of Lenin and Stalin!