The Bolshevik Revolution

October 2010
Search Aids
This pathfinder will be useful in finding information, particularly
primary documents and essays, about the Bolshevik Revolution, Search Terms
(Use for computer searches)
the civil war in Russia (1917-1921).
• Russian Revolution
• Soviet Union -- History --
For an introduction to the topic, see: Revolution, 1917-1921
• “Bolshevik Revolution of 1917” by Joseph L. Wieczynski.
From The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History
(1977) Subject Headings
(Use in card catalogs and print indexes)
• Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-
1921
Key Resources at a Glance: • Bolshevism
• The History of the Russian Revolution, by Leon Trotsky • Bolshevism—Soviet Union
(1961): A comprehensive history by one of the leaders in
• Bolshevism Russia
the revolution. It may not be the most unbiased source, but
• Soviet Union History
it gives a unique and insider perspective to the civil war.
Revolution, 1917-1921
• The Russian Revolution: 1917-1921, by Ronald Kowalski
• Communism Soviet Union
(1997): Offers a solid combination of primary source
documents, photos, and an easy-to-follow narrative.
• Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution 1914-1921,
Call Number
edited by Edward Acton, Vladimir Iu. Cherniaev, and
• 950 (Dewey Decimal)
William G. Rosenberg (1997): A unique collection of
DK 265 (Library of Congress)
historical essays about the people, locations, causes and
outcomes of the Revolution.
Indexes and Abstracts
• Academic Search Complete
Reference Background
• Historical Abstracts
• “Russia” from Encyclopedia Britannica
• Dictionary of the Russian Revolution (1989) by George
Jackson and Robert Devlin Library catalogs
• KentLINK: KSU Library
Resources catalog
• OhioLINK: Catalog for the
Books libraries of Ohio
• Witness to Revolution: Letters from Russia 1919-1919,
by Edward T. Heald, edited by James B. Gidney (1972)
• Voices of Revolution, 1917, by Mark D. Steinberg
(2001)
• Fighting the Bolsheviks: The Russian War Memoir of Private First Class Donald E. Carey,
U.S. Army, 1918-1919, edited by Neil G. Carey (1997)

Journals
 • Revolutionary Russia
• Russian Studies in History

Magazine Articles
• “Russian Historiography of the 1917 Revolution,” by Boris Kolonitskii. History &
Memory (Fall/Winter 2009)
• The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921: A Great Revolution Or Not?” by A.P. Nenarokov.
Russian Studies in History (Spring 2009)

Web Pages and Web Portals

• Seventeen Moments in Soviet History
www.soviethistory.org
• History of the Soviet Union
www.uea.ac.uk/his/webcours/russia/welcome

Organizations and Special Collections

• The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University
Please see the Guide to the Collections in the Hoover Institution Archives Relating to
Imperial Russia, the Russian Revolutions and Civil War, and the First Emigration,
Compiled by Carol A. Leadenham (1986)
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