Draft:October: The Story of the Russian Revolution
| Author | China Miéville |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Russian Revolution |
| Published | 2017 |
| Publisher | Verso |
| Pages | 369 |
| ISBN | 978-1-784-78277-1 (hbk.) |
| 947.0841 | |
| LC Class | DK265-265.95 |
| Website | https://www.versobooks.com/products/169-october |
October: The Story of the Russian Revolution is a 2017 history book by the British author China Miéville.
Overview[edit]
The book opens with an outline of modern Russian political history starting with the establishment of St Petersburg in 1703, illustrating events leading up to the outbreak of the February Revolution in 1917. It then chronicles the revolutionary events of that year in detail, with a chapter dedicated to each month from February until October (O.S.), with the October Revolution serving as the book's climax. A brief postface summarises the subsequent Russian Civil War, as well as the early history of the Soviet Union upon its establishment in 1922.
Reception[edit]
Upon release, numerous critics noted Miéville's experience as a novelist as serving to heighten the presentation of the historical narrative. American professor Grover Furr compares the book's style positively to that of the journalist and communist activist John Reed, who had personally witnessed many of the key events of the Revolution. However, Furr ultimately rejects the viability of Miéville's presentation as arbitrarily biased compared to Reed's first-hand experience, characterising it as a "rejection of objectivity" that results in "a work that is not a reliable account". He goes on to identify what he sees as several historical falsehoods in the book directly ascribable to Miéville's Trotskyite tendencies.[1] As part of a review of Revolution histories published around the event's centennial, University of Southampton lecturer George Gilbert describes October as "provocative and stimulating", and that the "emotional element" of revolution had been "well served" in the book: "For a reader relatively new to the field, Miéville provides a gripping narrative account of the main players in the revolutionary year itself."[2]
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Works cited[edit]
- Furr, Grover (2018). "October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (book review)". Socialism and Democracy. 32 (1): 181–188. doi:10.1080/08854300.2018.1461794. ISSN 0885-4300. S2CID 150298770.
- Gilbert, George (2020). ""New" Histories of the Russian Revolution?". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 21 (1): 159–172. doi:10.1353/kri.2020.0006. ISSN 1538-5000. S2CID 213365222.
- Hodder, Lewis (2018). "October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (book review)". Critique. 46 (1): 163–168. doi:10.1080/03017605.2017.1412625. ISSN 0301-7605. S2CID 149107804.
- Kellner, Joseph (2020). "October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (book review)". Canadian-American Slavic Studies. 54 (1–3): 313–316. doi:10.30965/22102396-05401018. ISSN 2210-2396. S2CID 225372201.
- Moodliar, Suren (2018). "Miéville's October". Socialism and Democracy. 32 (1): 143–151. doi:10.1080/08854300.2018.1451655. ISSN 0885-4300. S2CID 149885040.*Thompson, Willie (2018). "Sean McMeekin, The Russian Revolution: A New History; China Miéville, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution". European History Quarterly. 48 (1): 171–174. doi:10.1177/0265691417747183u. ISSN 0265-6914. S2CID 148828341.
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