My top suggestion would be the 3 volumes of E.H. Carr's The Bolshevik Revolution. It is an older work, but it stills holds up very well to the test of time. Also, I haven't read this yet, but I have heard that Prelude To Revolution, The Bolsheviks Come To Power, and The Bolsheviks In Power by Alexander Rabinowitch are also supposed to be excellent.
ComradeOm's suggestions. A short "revisionist" account of the Russian Revolution by ComradeOm.
The two main libertarian accounts of the Russian Revolution are volume I of Maximoff's The Guillotine at Work (volume II was primary evidence and was never republished) and Volin's The Unknown Revolution. Some other well-known and respected accounts of the Russian Revolution not mentioned by ComradeOm in the above link are volumes I and II of Chamberlin's The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921 and Serge's various accounts of the Revolution, such as From Lenin to Stalin and Year One of the Russian Revolution. I've also heard good things about this three volume set written in collaboration by various historians of the Russian Revolution including Sheila Fitzpatrick and Alexander Rabinowtich. The three volumes cover the Civil War, the NEP, and Stalinist industrialization respectively.
Ten Days That Shook The World by John Reed. An American who witnessed in person the revolution. I believe he was also the major founder of the CPUSA.
My top suggestion would be the 3 volumes of E.H. Carr's The Bolshevik Revolution. He also wrote a condensed version of this entitled The Russian Revolution from Lenin to Stalin. I haven't read it, but I'm sure it's good coming from Carr.
He also wrote a condensed version of this entitled The Russian Revolution from Lenin to Stalin. I haven't read it, but I'm sure it's good coming from Carr. I didn't read this, but I have read the 3 volume work and that was great.
I've also heard good things about this three volume set written in collaboration by various historians of the Russian Revolution including Sheila Fitzpatrick and Alexander Rabinowtich. The three volumes cover the Civil War, the NEP, and Stalinist industrialization respectively. I just ordered all three. Some amazon sellers have them for some pretty cheap prices new.
Trotsky is a good source for the history of the USSR in most of his books. marcel leibman also had a good book about the revolution, "Leninism Under Lenin," I learned alot from that one.
marcel leibman also had a good book about the revolution, "Leninism Under Lenin," I learned alot from that one. I have heard great and horrible things about this book. What's it about?
