From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up?In a gripping narrative, Vail provides telling description of the misery of the Russian people under the autocratic regime of Tsar Nicholas II and the disastrous defeats suffered in World War I as background for the spontaneous uprisings of February 1917. From there the story unfolds through the shaky coalition between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet, to the arrival of Lenin and the increasing influence of the Bolshevik Party. Although major players such as Kerensky, Trotsky, and Lenin are given brief coverage, the author's emphasis is on the needs and demands of the people and on the pressures produced by shifting economic and social factors. He deals well with causes and consequences, with the possible choices and final outcomes of the chaotic politics and rival personalities that influenced the course of history. A brief afterword brings Soviet Russia through the Stalinist era and to its collapse and problematic restructuring in 1994. Amazingly, the words "Marx" or "Marxism" do not appear in the book. Ideology does not play a role in Vail's explanation of events. Illustrative matter consists of small, dark archival photographs and reproductions and a few helpful maps. Well-documented and readable.?Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
[SERIES LAST REVIEWED IN BKL O 15 95, under Bland, Celia. Gr. 7^-12.]
