Caught in the Revolution

December 19, 2016
Rappaport (The Romanov Sisters) adopts an eyewitness approach to the Russian Revolution of 1917 in this fun, fast-paced, yet frivolous work. She bases her story on the firsthand accounts of Westerners in Petrograd at the time—a mixed bag of bankers, diplomats, journalists, socialists, and socialites, including Julia Dent Grant (granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant); journalists Florence Harper, Arthur Ransome, and John Reed; and American war photographer Donald Thompson. Some witnesses braved the mob scene with camera and notebook in hand. Others barricaded themselves in their offices and watched through their windows, fearing for their lives as the violence escalated. Rappaport fails to really develop these personalities, and the perspective changes as rapidly as the street names. Compared to Reed’s Ten Days that Shook the World or Richard Pipes’s classic The Russian Revolution 1899–1919, this is revolution-lite, very colorful but without much analysis or context. Rappaport treats readers to glimpses of the general strikes, bread protests, looting, and red banner–waving through the smoky-rose glasses of these wistful and unprepared foreigners. Sadly, the Russians are reduced to a ragged, hungry monochrome mass. Map & illus. Agent: Caroline Michel, Peters Fraser & Dunlop.

This centenary year of the Russian Revolution promises a string of new audio histories, but not many will surpass this one for impact. Xe Sands is a subtle and empathetic narrator--not the voice you'd immediately think of for a story of violent upheaval. Helen Rappaport's narrative, too, told from the perspective of Westerners in the Russian capital in 1917, might initially seem narrow and parochial. But together they bring the listener down to street level to witness firsthand a chain of events that seems astonishing even today. Hunger, confusion, high hopes, terror, and ruthless determination fueled those uncertain months, and, as the chapters unfold, you see and feel with vivid immediacy how everything could have been so different--and yet could have ended no other way. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine