Unless you’re really well versed in all the different groups and councils that were involved in the revolution it’s very hard to follow. Don’t even feel like I can say I read this cuz apart from the main motions of events I didn’t retain most of the play-by-play details

A good description of the anarchy, rumor mill, and use of propaganda in the November revolution when the Bolsheviks took power. Like, 90% of the events are political leaders or agitators going around in a circle saying I’m the good guy, you’re the counter-revolutionary and traitor and spinning how their side is winning while regular people just try to figure out wtf is going on. In that sense it is probably a testament to what happens when institutional norms completely break down. Also kind of comical to see speeches where “leaders” are straight-faced proclaiming their propaganda is working.

That said, this isn’t something that could be easily picked up and followed without knowing a lot of info already about the situation.

I was hoping for something more along the lines Kapusinski’s Shah of Shahs, but Reed doesn’t add much context to what he’s describing. It’s just reporting dispatches even though they are collated into a book. Good appendix of source material.

did anything in this book happen the way John Reed says it did? fuck knows. probably not. does that matter? no. if you want to know what happened in the October Revolution go read Sheila Fitzpatrick, if you want to feel what the October Revolution felt like, Reedy's your boy

A tough read for those without a commanding knowledge of Russian history (i.e., me). Nevertheless, Reed’s account of the Russian Revolution reads like a thriller despite the mounds of new names, factions, and governmental structures. A invigorating telling of a world-changing moment.

Fun note: Reed ate at a vegetarian restaurant in revolutionary Russian in 1917 called I Eat Nobody.

(4.5 stars) Admittedly, I was a little distracted throughout reading most of this, so I don't really feel able to give a comprehensive review.

I think this is a very important piece of writing to read when looking at the 1917 Russian Revolution, as it shows from first hand accounts the nature of politics and infighting between differing groups at the time in the effort to reform Russia and its outer territories from its Tsarist rule. One of the best things about this account is that Reed talks about how regular people thought and behaved, which helps in humanising the revolution as an act of desperation against centuries of abuse. Often there is a large focus on Lenin, Trotsky, and the Romanov family when discussing this period, but people neglect the peasants and the workers, which is so ironic given that the peasants and the workers were supposed to be the focus.

I think there was a slight lack of information, and it didn't really feel like a fully developed or comprehensive account. Seeing as it is a primary source, this is definitely excusable. I was left wanting to hear more from Reed and his experiences, not completely satisfied by the little that was said in comparison to how tumultuous this year was. Essential reading.

Só pelo posfácio isto já me dá vida.

An emotive & passionate eye-witness account of the events of the October Revolution, described as they happened. Whilst coloured by the author's own political beliefs, this still stands as a great historical work.

John Reed's first hand account of the revolution is a marvelous historical document. Lenin admired it, Stalin suppressed it, and its been smeared by many for it's socialist sympathies and lack of scope.

Reed's accomplish sort of takes precedent over the work itself. Documenting the "revolution" as it took place is an amazing task. Pre-twitter, pre-Reuters, Reed plots the dangerous task of documenting and living in the tense uncertain post-Tsar Russia. The work itself is an accomplishment. Reed documents the provisional government, the Bolshevik uprising, the press releases, and first hand accounts members of different political divisions. Anyone with an interest in the Russian revolution, or political change, would so well to read this work.

What I appreciate is the pain-staking detail Reed has in showing the very dry, detailed orders of the emerging government, and the explosive fervor of the time. Starving, war-fatigued, and trying to form representational government, Reed's work shows the emerging provisional government in a very revealing way. The Russian Revolution itself is so remarkable, because of how the fringe Bolshevisk party took the imagination and hearts of the lower class. The consolidation of power, press and revolutionary change is both awe-inspiring and frightening...especially when we consider the brutal tyranny of the Stalin dictatorship.

At times, Reed's emotions get caught into the work. Most revealing is "I suddenly realized that the devout Russian people no longer needed priests to pray them into heaven. On earth they were building a kingdom more bright than any heaven had to offer, and for which it was a glory to die....". It preserved Reed's own political feelings, and comradeship he was feeling.

Ten Days is a rare historical book doesn't have perspective. It's a snapshot of a lived revolution. It's easy to get caught into a post-Soviet script, but seen through the eyes of the Russian people, it's a humanizing and devastating work.

I wanted to like it much more than I did like it. I mean, with such strong credentials, how could it be bad? Quite easily, it turns out. At least, not *bad*, but just not very thrilling - the politics are submerged in the appendices, and the drama that replaces them is fairly lucklustre.