The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

At 180 pages and in a pocket size format, this book is targeted at a reader who wants a quick concise overview and it delivers that reasonably well. There's no appreciable bias, all the significant factors, players and historical events are covered. The book covers the period from 1917 to 1929, so it goes beyond the revolution itself and into the first five years of Bolshevik rule. The books fairly well structured and not at all confusing - and the author does a remarkably good job of distilling the complexities of the Revolution, the Civil War and the early years of the Soviet Union down into a book this size. Overall, a good intro and overview. If you want all the ins and outs, there's books available that go down to that level of detail. They won't fit in your pocket though. And your average High School student may experience brain-cell burnout, whereas they may survive this one.