Black Night, White Snow: Russia's Revolutions 1905-1917

Black Night, White Snow: Russia's Revolutions 1905-1917 by Salisbury, Harrison Evans. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780385008440.

The destruction of the Czars which brought about the reign of revolutions from 1905â 1917 in Russia looms as the crucial political event of the twentieth century. In little more than a decade the Romanov dynasty was toppled, and its time-honored institutions repudiated. How did it happen? How could Nicholas and Alexandra, the nobility, middle class anarchistsâ even Lenin himselfâ not foresee the catastrophic changes that were shaking the empire? Why could nothing be done? And why were the efforts so ineffectual? Black Night, White Snow captures the rich drama of this whole period. With the artistry of a Balzac, Harrison Salisbury exposes the strata of Russian society, with its decedents, prophetic poets, religious fanatics, and newly liberated serfs. From archival sources within the Soviet Union, interviews, and his personal photography collection, he recreates the story as it happened. Hard data on Russias economy, a first-hand knowledge of the county, and a historians gift of compression are combined in a fast-paced narrative that reads with the ease of a good novel and the urgency of a newspaper headline.