October: The Story of the Russian Revolution - Hardcover

China Míeville

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1784782777 ISBN 13: 9781784782771

Publisher: Verso, 2017

Synopsis

Award-winning writer China Miéville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later, it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions? This is the story of the extraordinary months between those upheavals, in February and October, of the forces and individuals who made 1917 so epochal a year, of their intrigues, negotiations, conflicts and catastrophes. From familiar names like Lenin and Trotsky to their opponents Kornilov and Kerensky; from the byzantine squabbles of urban activists to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire; from the revolutionary railroad Sublime to the ciphers and static of coup by telegram; from grand sweep to forgotten detail. Historians have debated the revolution for a hundred years, its portents and possibilities: the mass of literature can be daunting. But here is a book for those new to the events, told not only in their historical import but in all their passion and drama and strangeness. Because as well as a political event of profound and ongoing consequence, Miéville reveals the Russian Revolution as a breathtaking story.

About this title

Review

“This gripping account is a re-enactment of the Russian Revolution... His writing can be as passionate as that of the poets of the time: Alexander Blok, Mikhail Kuzmin, Marina Tsvetaeva, to mention some of those quoted here. Miéville's own special effects are of a piece with them.” – Financial Times

“Miéville is an ideal guide through this complex historical moment, giving agency to obscure and better-known participants alike, and depicting the revolution as both a tragically lost opportunity and an ongoing source of inspiration.” – Publishers Weekly (★ Starred Review)

“When one of the most marvellously original writers in the world takes on one of the most explosive events in history, the result can only be incendiary” – Barbara Ehrenreich

“To give a new generation of readers a fresh account of the great revolution, incorporating all the post-1989 archival discoveries and scholarly research, is a singularly daunting task. To render it in vivid, oracular prose, moving across the pages with the gathering force of a hurricane, is something that only China Miéville could achieve.” – Mike Davis

“Elegantly constructed and unexpectedly moving” – Sheila Fitzpatrick, London Review of Books

“Miéville presents the action with his novelist’s eye ... An intriguing march to revolution, told here with clarity and insight.” – Kirkus

“There are delightful grace notes here over and above a brisk and perceptive narrative.” – Stuart Kelly, Scotsman

“Cinematic and vivid” – Newsweek

“Readers will be satisfied that October gives them the literary equivalent of bearing witness to world history.” – Booklist

“It’s as if John Reed, author of the classic piece of revolutionary journalism, Ten Days That Shook the World, woke from a decades-long sleep to tell the story of 1917 once again.” – Counterpunch

About the Author

China Mieville is the multi-award-winning author of many works of fiction and non-fiction. His fiction includes The City & The City, Embassytown and This Census-Taker, and has won the Hugo, World Fantasy and Arthur C Clarke Awards; his non-fiction includes the photo-illustrated essay London s Overthrow, and Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law. He has a PhD in International Relations from the LSE. He has written for various publications, including the New York Times, Guardian, Conjunctions and Granta. He is a founding editor of the quarterly Salvage.

About this edition

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1784782777
• ISBN 13: 9781784782771
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384