The destruction of the Czars which brought about the reign of revolutions from 1905–1917 in Russia looms as the crucial political event of the twentieth century. In little more than a decade the Romanov dynasty was toppled, and its time-honored institutions repudiated. How did it happen? How could Nicholas and Alexandra, the nobility, middle class anarchists—even Lenin himself—not foresee the catastrophic changes that were shaking the empire? Why could nothing be done? And why were the efforts so ineffectual? Black Night, White Snow captures the rich drama of this whole period. With the artistry of a Balzac, Harrison Salisbury exposes the strata of Russian society, with its decedents, prophetic poets, religious fanatics, and newly liberated serfs. From archival sources within the Soviet Union, interviews, and his personal photography collection, he recreates the story as it happened. Hard data on Russia's economy, a first-hand knowledge of the county, and a historian's gift of compression are combined in a fast-paced narrative that reads with the ease of a good novel and the urgency of a newspaper headline.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Still-Valuable Retrospective on the Russian Revolution,
By jackdawe (LA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Night, White Snow (Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)
Harrison Salisbury, correspondent to the "Second World" of Russia during some of the most dramatic moments of its 20th Century history, occasional novelist and intellectual representative of a bygone (American) liberal elite, is now increasingly relegated to footnote status in most texts dealing with the time. Nonetheless, he had a first-rate mind, was "fair and balanced" in his reportage (meaning he neither knowingly lied about the social horrors of Communist regimes like Walter Duranty nor became an apologist for the West like many emigres from Arthur Koestler on down). He was a good reporter and a gentleman, in the old sense, who found himself, time and again, the only correspondent available to write about the bad conditions constantly emerging from even worse situations within the "Communist bloc" nations.
His magnum opus, it seems, is and will be THE 900 DAYS: The Siege of Leningrad. I recall being greatly impressed, as well, by THE COMING WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA, especially when the border war between Vietnam and China, in 1979, seemed to bring this nightmare scenario one step from realization. BLACK NIGHT, WHITE SNOW is a valuable retrospective on the three Russian Revolutions, the one in 1905 and the two in 1917. The book's structure is generated by the juxtaposition of two lives, that of Czar Nicholas II and Vladimir Ulyanov, AKA "Lenin", whose character (or lack of it, in Nicholas' case) was to become so crucial for the lives of the subjects they would rule. About Nicholas II, then and now, about the best thing you can say is that he was a tragic figure, and leave it at that. Salisbury's Nicholas displays the worst features of what I call "inherited wealth syndrome". Moving beyond entitlement into realms where it seems somehow unnatural to lift a finger to help yourself, he proved fatally susceptible to the worst kind of sycophancy, and compounded this error by an almost psychopathic denial of reality, sacking all of his underlings who dared tell him the truth about the rot at work in the foundations of Russian society. When Stolypin, (the Russian Premier after 1905 and, according to Solzhenitsyn, the last man who might have averted the catastrophe of Boshevism), was assassinated, in the presence of Nicholas II, the Czar didn't even go to his funeral. Little things like that say alot. Where reform and positive action seemed too much for the Czar to contemplate, mysticism took over, resulting in the elevation of the demonic Rasputin to de facto control of the country. When Rasputin, in 1916, in his turn was killed, the Czar and Czarina Alexandra treated it as the ultimate national tragedy, and blamed all the horrors that happened afterwards on the inability of the aristocracy to tolerate the "holy man." Salisbury's treatment of Nicholas II is eye-opening, but his Lenin is a revelation, particularly for those who think that the evils of the Soviet system began and ended with Stalin. Lenin is generally seen, even now, as basically a bourgeois intellectual derailed from following a university or magnate path by the execution of his elder brother, Alexander Ulyanov, when the latter was implicated in a plot upon the life of Czar Alexander III. From then on, Vladimir was bound to be a revolutionary - but one who would not make the sentimental mistakes about people that had led to his older brother's death. So - working against the government, Vladimir was exiled, ending up out of touch and frustrated in various foreign countries, until the final explosion of 1917 brought all non-resident chickens home to roost. But Salisbury deftly, if sketchily, depicts the adult Lenin as a functioning manic-depressive, capable of instances of Hitlerian assertion of willpower, followed by (transitory) sieges of "nervous collapse", black moods devoid of energy and meaning, when it seemed he'd given up on himself and everybody around him, and would withdraw into the nearest tolerable natural setting to recoup his energies. Everybody has faults, of course, but Lenin's rollercoaster fanaticism is the kind of defect that should disallow one from public service. And it was this mental attitude, chockful of the meanest kind of spite and petty vindictiveness, which set Bolshevism on the course it would take, into Stalin's hands. Such insight into the progenitor of "Leninism" is one of many things that make BLACK NIGHT, WHITE SNOW stand out, at least in comparison with more "textbook"-like tomes as Robert Goldston's RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, or even Solzhenitsyn's imaginative "biographical novel" LENIN IN ZURICH. Another aspect of those times that is ably recaptured by Salisbury is the sheer chaos, the anarchy of "the dark people" (ie., the Russian masses), which propelled the Revolution into an arena where a dedicated madman like Lenin could take control. But one could go on and on about this book. Judging by the absence of reviews, either editorial or customer - not to mention its current unavailability by this bookstore and others - it seems not to be read that much anymore. There are other things one should read first, of course, when it comes to literary work about the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn springs to mind, Rybakov and others. It was after all, one thing to write ABOUT Hell on Earth, and another thing to write about it after living through it: the second P.O.V. definitely has higher moral standing, however decent a human being the "writer from outside" may be. If there were just time enough, both Salisbury and the "more authentic" Soviet-era dissidents would be read. Make time to read this book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brillaint account of one of the most fascinating chapters of human history,
By Sam Findlay (Brisbane, QLD, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Night, White Snow (Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)
Harrison E. Salisbury is an unusually talented writer. It is worth noting here that I said 'writer'. There are many talented historians... but few talented writers who set themselves to the worthy task of chronicling the epic events of the past. Salisbury, then, is an exception and a welcome exception. Where modern academics seem to treat interesting, artistic writing of history as the invention of Satan himself, Salisbury recognises that by giving history a touch of literary flair it becomes that much more alive, more dramatic, more interesting.
I've heard it often said in high praise of historical work by the casual reader that a given book `reads like a novel'. Unfortunately our esteemed modern intelligentsia largely overlooks the fact that this is considered praiseworthy in a historical work and thus we get myriad volumes of bland, text-book-like accounts of what are in reality dramatic, lively and fascinating events. I think it is fair to say of `Black Night, White Snow' that it reads like a novel. I know any academics (which I suppose as a matter of technicality I rank amongst) reading this have probably concluded from the above (providing, of course, that they are not familiar with Salisbury's work or indeed this book itself) that this is then a second-rate work of history - a populist work with few academic merits. This is absolutely not the case. Salisbury's work on the history of Russia's three revolutions is marvellously researched, taking in a wide range of Russian and English sources as well as a variety of others. He uses many primary sources - such as the letters and diaries of Nicholas and Alexandra, first-hand accounts of Lenin -by individuals such as Nadezhda Krupskaya, his wife - as well as a variety of accounts by a whole range of people who lived through the events herein told of. The centre of the narrative is the dual lives of Lenin and Nicholas (a format taken further in Salisbury's later dual biography of Mao and Deng, `The New Emperors' - also recommended reading). Both, as Salisbury points out in his Author's Note had little mastery of the situation and the events and Lenin not so much led the Revolution to its eventual conclusion in a total Red victory as he rode the wave of revolution to the highest pinnacle of power. He deliberately sets out to wade through the sea of myths surrounding the events of 1917 in order to find the truth and to portray things as they seemed to those who lived through them - drawing on extensive primary sources, as mentioned above. The book does well to portray Lenin's nerves and his frequent fits of depression as well as Nicholas' spectacular apathy and ignorance, as well as the ease with which the court personalities were able to manipulate him - especially his German wife and through her a certain Siberian `holy' man. Despite Salisbury's liberal views he does not fall into the trap of whitewashing Lenin's evils - that is to say the Red Terror he unleashed - and does not even attempt to make them seem morally equivalent to the measures taken by the Tsarist government before its collapse. Indeed the final chapters of this book, taking place after the Red October coup d'état (as opposed to Revolution, one of the myths Salisbury dispenses with), almost make one think that this book could have been called `Black Night, Red Snow' in view of all the blood the Bolsheviks spilt as they became increasingly desperate to hold power. Salisbury also does well to build the suspense of the book, even though most readers will be well aware how the story ends. Lines such as the following, placed at the end of a chapter, do well to make this an interesting read by building something of a sense of foreboding: `November 1, 1905, Nicholas II had jotted into his diary this entry: "We've made the acquaintance of a man of God, Grigory from the Tobolsk Guberniya." Grigory, of course, was Rasputin.' This book, it should also be noted, as considerable scope. It begins with a description of events from the halfway point of the 19th century, continuing through to the winter of 1919-20 in the final pages. This vast, 70-year narrative focuses, obviously, on the period of the reign of Nicholas II and the ensuing years of 1917-8. It gives due attention to the events of 1905-6, talking about the rise, and fall, of the Gapon Society and Bloody Sunday, as well as the original Soviet. The accounts of the escapades of Rasputin, the veritable dictator of Russia for about a decade, are colourful indeed. Suffice to say this is a fascinating book, and exciting read and highly informative and well-researched. I recommend it to anyone interested in the events of this era - it is certainly amongst the best of the works dealing with this particular topic. I am personally of the opinion that this is even better than the much-acclaimed `The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad', if only because the events it deals with are that much more pivotal to the history of the world and that much more dramatic. Though Salisbury is little read these days it is not a fate deserved by such a talented writer and historian.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Descent into Communism....,
By Russia on the brink of the First World War had never known anything but autocratic government. The Czar's secret police and soldiers had successfully suppressed every revolutionary effort. However, the combination of a weak and indecisive Czar Nicholas II, the stresses of a failing war effort, and the presence of several organized opposition groups created a perfect storm of political chaos in 1917. The Bolseviks, a minority party among those seeking change, are here represented by Salisbury to have been both ruthlessly opportunistic and incredibly fortunate. Lenin, recalled from exile with the fall of the Czar, managed to ride the wave of political change to a position of complete power, forever changing Russia. Salisbury writes in the journalist style that would be made famous for a later generation of readers by David Halberstam. His account is full of personalities and the intersections of human judgment and random chance. His slow unspooling of the chronology of the Russian Revolution creates a palpable sense of suspense, as the Czar misses repeated opportunities for a better outcome, and a well-intentioned interim government fumbles away an opportunity for demoncracy. The counter-revolution by the Bolsheviks succeeds almost by a sense of mystical fate in collapsing the house of cards that was Russia in 1917. "Black Night, White Snow" is an even-handed and enthralling account of the Russian Revolution by an author who knew Russia and the Communists extraordinarily well. His account is very highly recommended to students of the history of Russia and its tumultuous years of revolution.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
