The Empire Must Die: Russia's Revolutionary Collapse, 1900 - 1917
Written by Mikhail Zygar
Narrated by Simon Vance
5/5
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About this audiobook
From the last years of Tolstoy until the death of the Tsar and his family, however, Russia experimented with liberalism and cultural openness. In Europe, the Ballet Russe was the height of chic. Novelists and playwrights blossomed, political ideas were swapped in coffee houses and St. Petersburg felt briefly like Vienna or Paris. The state, however couldn't tolerate such experimentation against the backdrop of a catastrophic war and a failing economy. The autocrats moved in and the liberals were overwhelmed. This story seems to have strangely prescient echoes of the present.
Mikhail Zygar
Mikhail Zygar worked for Newsweek Russia and the business daily Kommersant, covering the conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Serbia, and Kosovo before becoming founding editor in chief of Russia’s only independent news TV channel, Dozhd, which provided an alternative to Kremlin-controlled federal TV channels and gave a platform to opposition voices. He won the International Press Freedom Award in 2014. He is the author of All the Kremlin’s Men, a #1 bestseller in Russia that has been translated into over twenty languages and was called one of “nine books that can help you understand Russia right now” by Time magazine, and The Empire Must Die, a Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year.
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Reviews for The Empire Must Die
9 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fresh take on the very complex events leading to the communist revolution of 1917. I believe he was too soft on the Romanof’s
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book stretches a long time from the death of tsar Alexander the 3rd to the bolsjevick takeover. It chooses to tell its story by following (future)political figures and a surprising number of artists. The author does a good job of organising the mess of counteracting plots and conspiricies that characterise this period.
It does seem te be somewhat lacking in background information. The wars against Japan en Germany are not discussed in military terms and the economic situation and life of ordinary Russians are also ignored. There is mention of the role of the press, but I would have liked to read more about the precise role of public opinion.
I guess there is a limit to what you can say in one book.