Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed [Hardcover]

Robert A. Rosenstone (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A magnificent, thoughtful, moving book. Written with poetic sweep, [it] recreates a vital era of American history and restores John Reed, the legend, to life. Romantic Revolutionary will long be read as the definitive work about a man who lived and epic life in quest of an ideal. (Dorothy Samachson Chicago Daily News )

We see Jack Reed not only as the daring adventurer, the successful, celebrated, attractive hero, but in his ordeals, in his less than lovable, less than admirable moments, in his stormy and sometimes pathetic relationships, in his ambition and drive for achievement, for sensation, in his moments of despair. (Robert Kirsch Los Angeles Times Book Review )

A superb biography, a model of how to trace the growth of a mind while staying true to the facts. (Roger Rosenblatt New Republic )

The most authoritative account of the life of the author of 'Ten Days That Shook the World'. (Boston Globe ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert A. Rosenstone is Professor of History, California Institute of Technology, and author of Mirror in the Shrine: American Encounters with Meiji Japan and Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (both from Harvard). --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Replica Books (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735105251
• ISBN-13: 978-0735105256
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,112,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert A. Rosenstone, Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology, is a leading figure in the field devoted to studying the relationship between film and history. He has written two books on the topic, Visions of the Past: the Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History (Harvard, 1995), and History on Film / Film on History (Pearson, 2006), and has edited a breakthrough collection of essays, Revisioning History: Film and the Construction of a New Past (Princeton, 1995). Currently he is editing an anthology of original essays by scholars from around the world for a British publisher, to be titled The Blackwell Companion to Historical Film.

Rosenstone has participated in the production of several films, both dramatic features and documentaries. His award winning biography of John Reed was used in part as the basis for the Academy Award winning Reds, on which he worked as consultant. Other film involvements include his writing of the narration for a documentary on the Spanish Civil War entitled The Good Fight (1983), and time spent as consultant and / or Talking Head for several films, including Darrow; Tango of Slaves; Screening Histories: The Filmmaker Strikes Back; Rebels; and Emma Goldman: A Troublesome Presence.

Rosenstone's works of narrative history include Crusade of the Left: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War (Pegasus, 1969), Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (Knopf, 1975), and Mirror in the Shrine: American Encounters with Meiji Japan (Harvard, 1988). He has published two works of imaginative writing, a book of stories entitled, The Man Who Swam Into History (Texas, 2005), and a historical novel, King of Odessa (Northwestern, 2003). His second novel, Red Star, Crescent Moon, will be published in September, 2010.

Rosenstone is the Founding Editor of Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice, and in 1989 created the first film section for the American Historical Review. He has been a visiting professor at Oxford University, the University of Manchester, the University of Barcelona, the European University Institute (Florence), Kyushu University (Japan), the University of La Laguna (Canary Islands), and Tolima University (Colombia). His fellowships include four from the National Endowment for the Humanities, three from the Fulbright program, and he has been a research fellow at both the East-West Center (Honolulu) and the Getty Research Institute.

May 2010

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional examination of an exceptional life!, May 7, 1999

By 

Mike Miller ([e-mail]) (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (Paperback)

An epic tour-de-force which examines the fascinating life of John Reed, the only American to be buried in the Kremlin Wall. An ecclectic mix of personalities - from Lenin to Gertrude Stein, from Lincoln Steffens to Teddy Roosevelt - pass thru the tapestry which was Reed's life, each having their own unique impact on the art which remains. From his childhood in stoic Portland Oregon to his years in Harvard and New York to his coming of age in Mexico covering the Villa revolution, Reed absorbed experience and reflected his concept of justice and equality in his writing. Each stop along the way was preparation for Reed's ultimate mission - to report on the earth-shattering 1917 Russian Revolution. The book "Ten Days in October" is still the seminal work on the topic, and this book delves into the evolution of Reed from middle-class dabbler to full-blown Socialist commentator. Mr. Rosenstone does the man justice - well-documented, fair, and without overt "gushiness". An exceptional read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars by the author of "The Dream of the Decade", March 9, 2006

By 

Afshin Rattansi (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (Paperback)

The last full biography of Reed was published in 1967. The Lost Revolutionary was a Cold War attempt at character assassination. Apart from a psychoanalytical epilogue that dismisses his subject as naive, Rosenstone's account is remarkably fair. Reed, brought up in Babbit-style Oregon, was educated at Harvard and at 26 left Greenwich Village's burgeoning bohemia to cover the Mexican Revolution. His political awakening came just before he left for the land of Villa and Zapata, while covering a story on the Paterson silk strike. 'In Paterson,' writes the American biographer, 'Jack had smelled, tasted and felt the spirit of radicalism, and found it good.'

After Mexico and reporting from the Western Front, came romance in the shape of Louise Bryant the sole justification for the title of the book. All this time Reed was writing articles, plays and stories, but for all his worldly experience, they were mediocre against the work of contemporaries such as O'Neil, Yeats and Pound. Reed's greatness would be established by reportage published only a year before his burial at the foot of the Kremlin. Ten Days That Shook The World not only illuminates the trials of revolution, but also shows up the caprice of the winds of change.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book the academy-award movie "Reds" was based on., September 3, 1998

By 

Tommy Barban (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (Paperback)

This is the book the academy-award winning movie "Reds", starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, was based on. An epic (but true)love story, you finish reading it in awe at how much life was packed by these people in such a short time.