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  • A People’s Tragedy

  • By: Orlando Figes
  • Narrated by: Roger Davis
  • Length: 47 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (614 ratings)

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A People’s Tragedy

By: Orlando Figes
Narrated by: Roger Davis
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Publisher's summary

Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People’s Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship.

Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.

Now including a new introduction that reflects on the revolution’s centennial legacy, A People’s Tragedy is a masterful and definitive record of one of the most important events in modern history.

©2018 Orlando Figes (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about A People’s Tragedy

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A Great Story

Gripping and well told, this is the story of how Bolshevism came to win out in Russia. The writing and narration are both superb.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent History of Russian Revolution

This is the second Figes book I’ve listened to and it was another excellent one. I didn’t like the narrator so much.

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Excellent detailed history

Everything you could possibly want to know about the revolution and the personalities involved. Aside from just the history, the author includes the cultural aspects as well as the effects and reactions of Russia’s great artists....Tolstoy, Gorky etc.

The only criticism I have is a small problem with the narrator. Overall he is very good but occasionally he trails off at the end of sentences to the point where it is almost inaudible.

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18 people found this helpful

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Excellent Lesson in History

This book provides the facts I was missing to understand fully just how Lenin and his ilk managed to eliminate an equally inept and morally reprehensible monarchy. Also very well read. Hours well spent furthering my knowledge of the past as an armor against the flawed ideas and propaganda of the societal and political present. Thanks to the author and Audible for making this knowledge available.

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6 people found this helpful

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Fantastic details about the Russian Revolution

The middle 25% of the book is a bit hard to get through because of all the political maneuvering coupled with lots of unfamiliar names and places(wish I had a map+ an organization chart for it haha). But it's totally worth getting through once the Red Terror part begins.

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Most Excellent

I believe that this book is the best possible treatise on the Russian Revolution. It was long, complex, clear, and balanced. Figes calls out both right-leaning and left-leaning historians for their past distortions and also admits when the record is not clear as to exactly what happened.

The one star off for performance is for some mispronounced Russian words.

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Very informative

I loved listening to this. I feel like I leaned a lot about Russian history. I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in history or politics

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One of the best books I’ve read

As usual, Figes does it again. You’ll not find another account of the revolution so well done. Most importantly, it is neither poisoned by a tone of right leaning dismissiveness/fatalism of the revolution or left leaning revisionism and fetishization of the bolsheviks. It’s an honest social history, with plenty of criticism for both the whites and the reds. You won’t find a better, more fair account of the revolution on Amazon. If you’re going to screech in the reviews because he didn’t confirm all your political biases one way or they other, it’s not the book for you. If you however, seek understanding, buy the book.

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12 people found this helpful

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Masterpiece

Should be required reading for anyone who has any doubts about the virtues (or lack there of as the case may be) of socialism and communism. The brutishness of the system and the brutality of its application, all in the name of “the people” are described in great clarity by Figes.

I’m reminded by the quote by HL Mencken, “The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it.” We would do well to remember that today.

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5 people found this helpful

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Long but worthwhile for the interested

Exceptionally thorough coverage of the Russian Revolution. Chapter 51 was particularly haunting. Very little of Stalin in this but covers right up to the death of Lenin plus a little after.

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1 person found this helpful