Unbiased Account of the Russian Revolution

[Red Sun]

Can anyone recommend a good, preferably unbiased history of the Russian Revolution? If an unbiased account is impossible for such a controversial event, then could someone recommend a good book from an anarchist or other anti-Leninist perspective and a good book from a Leninist (not Stalinist) perspective, so I can compare them? Thanks.

[Ostrinski]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/introducing-revleft-historical-t120423/index.html

A good resorce put together by ComradeOm, be sure to check out Rabinowitch's and Carr's trilogies.

[Caj]

The classic accounts of the Russian Revolution from an anarchist perspective are Voline's The Unknown Revolution and Maximoff's The Guillotine at Work. You could check out Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution for the perspective of a (non-Stalinist) Leninist.

[hetz]

I've been trying to find Carr's The Russian Revolution: From Lenin to Stalin for some time now.
Please PM me if you have the link.

[keystone]

John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World is the first thing you should check out.
If you prefer films, try Reds starring Warren Beatty - not as good as Reed's book, but loosely based on his life and travel to Russia during the revolution.

[Le Socialiste]

John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World is the first thing you should check out.
If you prefer films, try Reds starring Warren Beatty - not as good as Reed's book, but loosely based on his life and travel to Russia during the revolution.

I'm not sure Reds is a useful resource. While it is based on Reed's life, and draws on a number of people's accounts of the period, the actual depiction of the Revolution occurs much later in the film, and passes by relatively quickly. That said, I'd recommend the movie anyway (because it's a great film). Carr's books (The Bolshevik Revolution: 1917-1923, separated into 3 volumes) are enormously helpful, but he's generally pretty sympathetic to the Bolsheviks and those who aren't might take issue with that. Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is a must read in my opinion. I'd highly recommend it.

[Rugged Collectivist]

I doubt anyone's account of anything can be truly unbiased.

If you want an anarchist perspective, you could try "my disillusionment in Russia" by Emma Goldman. I've never read the book myself so I can't comment on it's quality, but it is an account of the revolution by an anarchist which is what you asked for.

It's important to note that the publisher left out the last chapters and changed the title. The omitted chapters were later published in "my further disillusionment in Russia".