Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917-1923

In the exceedingly complex series of events that went into the making of the Russian Revolution and its subsequent devolution into the communist government of Felix and Vladimir, Pipes makes another foray into clarity and meaning, and succeeds wonderfully. While this book might not interest the causal reader on Comunist Russia and her sattellites, it is as close to seamless reading as we will ever find for the ethnographer of violence in the Russian landscape. And what the hell, it still might interest the causual reader- I guarantee you will go away with a complete picture of an important period of time.

As a history student I found this book a really good source to write my essay on the methods of terror used by the Bolsheviks. This book is designed to all of those that study the history of nationalities after October of 1917. I think this should be one of the first books of Pipes on the. subject of the Bolsheviks. It is really interesting that Pipes provides a lot of information in an era (1950's) when there was little information about the Soviet Union. I have also read from Pipes, The Russian Revolution, Russia under the Bolshevik Regime, The Unknown Lenin and Russia under the Old Regime.