Selected as a Book of the Year in the Telegraph and Evening Standard 'A gripping, vivid, deeply researched chronicle of the Russian Revolution told through the eyes of a surprising, flamboyant cast of foreigners in Petrograd, superbly narrated by Helen Rappaport.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs 'Next year's centenary will prompt a raft of books on the Russian Revolution. They will be hard pushed to better this highly original, exhaustively researched and superbly constructed account.' Saul David, Daily Telegraph Caught in the Revolution is Helen Rappaport's masterful telling of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold. Between the first revolution in February 1917 and Lenin's Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St Petersburg) was in turmoil - felt nowhere more keenly than on the fashionable Nevsky Prospekt where the foreign visitors and diplomats who filled hotels, clubs, bars and embassies were acutely aware of the chaos breaking out on their doorsteps and beneath their windows. Among this disparate group were journalists, businessmen, bankers, governesses, volunteer nurses and expatriate socialites. Many kept diaries and wrote letters home: from an English nurse who had already survived the sinking of the Titanic; to the black valet of the US Ambassador, far from his native Deep South; to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who had come to Petrograd to inspect the indomitable Women's Death Battalion led by Maria Bochkareva. Helen Rappaport draws upon this rich trove of material, much of it previously unpublished, to carry us right up to the action - to see, feel and hear the Revolution as it happened to a diverse group of individuals who suddenly felt themselves trapped in a 'red madhouse.'
Colin Wilson , Rasputin and the Fall of the Romanovs ( Panther , UK o / p ) . Perhaps the best account of the " mad monk " who hastened the downfall of a dynasty . It considers the most sensational tales with a sceptical eye .
St. Petersburg is the linchpin for travel to and around Russia, and this guidebook covers it all in this detailed city-guide format.
Rough guide Санкт-Петербург: самый подробный и популярный путеводитель в мире
Особняк Кочневой, Фонтанка, 41
In 'Leningrad', Brian Moynahan sets the composition of Shostakovich's most famous work against the tragic canvas of the siege itself and the years of repression and terror that preceded it.
Crime and Punishment
When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, he intended to capture Leningrad before turning on Moscow.
Drawing upon a rich trove of material and through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold, Helen Rappaport takes us right up to the action - to see, feel and hear the Revolution as it happened.
This is the savvy city breakers' pocket guide to seeing and doing more in Russia's city of romance - with a fun- seeking and cost-conscious slant.
But this is far more than a catalogue of suffering and starvation: Blockade Diary is a testament to selfishness and moral collapse, but also a tribute to generosity and courage. This remarkable book reveals humanity at its best and worst.