Ten Days that Shook the World by John ReedMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The author's life is the basis for Reds and this memoir of the Bolshevik Revolution. On November 6 and 7, 1917 (or October 24 and 25 on the Julian calendar, which is why the event is often referred to as the "October Revolution"), leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Lenin (who wrote an introduction here) launched a coup d'état against the Duma's provisional government. Reed chronicles that in multi-front detail which can be a but overwhelming. Steeping back, it feels to me like the militia-like Red Guards and other agitated peasants, workers, and soldiers felt they were in a hyper-democratic, anti-nationalist surge. At times they rejected Russian symbols as "nationalistic", marched to "Les Marseillais", and insisted on the right of self-determination in their promulgations. All said and done, Lenin and company nationalized all commerce and property and enacted a hyper-nationalistic, extremely centralized state-controlled economy. Thinking of the heady, idealistic lead up to the Soviet era it is easier to see how Reed or maybe many others could be caught up in the promise and excitement.
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