Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (Routledge Historical Biographies) - Softcover

Read, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415206499 ISBN 13: 9780415206495

Publisher: Routledge, 2005

Synopsis

From a highly distinguished author on the subject, this biography is an excellent scholarly introduction to one of the key figures of the Russian Revolution and post-Tsarist Russia. Not only does it make use of archive material made newly available in the glasnost and post-Soviet eras, it re-examines traditional sources as well, providing an original interpretation of Lenin's life and historical importance.

Focal points of this study are:

• Lenin's revolutionary ascetic personality
• how he exploited culture, education and propaganda
• his relationship to Marxism
• his changing class analysis of Russia
• his 'populist' instincts.

A prominent figure at the forefront of debates on the Russina revolution, Read makes sure that Lenin remains in his place as a highly influential and significant figure of the recent past.

About this title

Review:

'[Christpher Read has] produced a very readable, convincing portrait of a human, if not always humane Lenin...For suggestive answers to these and many more major issues of the Russian Revolution, Read's biography deserves a long shelf life.' - European Historical Quarterly

About the Author:

Christopher Read is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Warwick.  He is author of From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and Their Revolution, 1917-21 (1996), Culture and Power in Revolutionary Russia (1990) and The Making and Breaking of the Soviet System (2001).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0415206499
• ISBN 13: 9780415206495
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 332