Richard Pipes Book order

Youth -- War -- Khrushchev's speech -- Columbia University -- Trouble -- Canada -- Back home -- The December 1985 Memorandum -- Relations with Gorbachev -- Glasnost' -- Need of a fundamental break -- Role in foreign policy -- The 1939 Secret Protocol -- Attitude toward the United States -- Advocating presidency -- Accusations of treason -- Bolshevik crimes -- Dissolution of the Soviet Union -- Private life -- The August 1991 Coup -- Yakovlev's final thoughts about Russia and Russians -- Death

Why have Russians chosen unlimited autocracy since the Middle Ages? Why is democracy unable to flourish in Russia? This work is an analysis of Russia's immemorial commitment to the theory and practice of autocracy. It demonstrates why the belief in autocracy remains the most formative and powerful idea in Russia's political history.

With astonishing authority and clarity, Richard Pipes has fused a lifetime’s scholarship into a single focused history of Communism, from its hopeful birth as a theory to its miserable death as a practice. At its heart, the book is a history of the Soviet Union, the most comprehensive reorganization of human society ever attempted by a nation-state. This is the story of how the agitation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, two mid-nineteenth-century European thinkers and writers, led to a great and terrible world religion that brought down a mighty empire, consumed the world in conflict, and left in its wake a devastation whose full costs can only now be tabulated.

Beginning with Plato and the first expressions of a utopian vision of a property-less society, Pipes describes communism's historical antecedents, through to Marx, Engels and the birth of communism' as a theory of class relations and a call to arms. He traces its spread to Russia and its adoption by young radical intellectuals led by Lenin, and explores why Russia, against all Marx's predictions, was such a fertile ground. He goes on to reckon brilliantly with the history of the Soviet Union, from the Russian Revolution and the Civil War, Stalin, Stalinism and the Great Terror, and the Second World War to the regime's decline and its ultimate collapse.Pipes also looks at communism in its global context, from its spread to China and the Third World to its reception in the West, the Comintern, and the world-wide power struggle known as the Cold War. Finally he analyses the roots of communism's catastrophic failures and the staggering human cost it inflicted on the world in the 20th century.

"A superb book about a topic that should be front and center in the American political debate" ( National Review ), from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and historian of the Russian RevolutionAn exploration of a wide range of national and political systems to demonstrate persuasively that private ownership has served over the centuries to limit the power of the state and enable democratic institutions to evolve and thrive in the Western world.Beginning with Greece and Rome, where the concept of private property as we understand it first developed, Richard Pipes then shows us how, in the late medieval period, the idea matured with the expansion of commerce and the rise of cities. He contrasts England, a country where property rights and parliamentary government advanced hand-in-hand, with Russia, where restrictions on ownership have for centuries consistently abetted authoritarian regimes; finally he provides reflections on current and future trends in the United States.Property and Freedom is a brilliant contribution to political thought and an essential work on a subject of vital importance.

Lenin - the man, the revolutionary, and the world leader - has remained an enigma, part myth arising from the tumult of the Russian Revolution and part image carefully controlled for nearly seventy years by the leaders of the Soviet Union and their sympathizers abroad. The Unknown Lenin, containing long concealed documents from the Soviet archives, helps correct the myth and revise the image. Lenin emerges here as a ruthless, manipulative leader who used terror, subversion, and persecution to achieve his goals.

It is my considered judgement that, had it not been for the Russian Revolution, there would very likely have been no National Socialism; I will attempt here to distill the essence of my books The Russian Revolution and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime by raising the three central questions addressed in those volumes: Why did tsarism fall?

The book explores the intricate relationship between literature and society, delving into how literary works reflect and shape cultural and political landscapes. It features a collection of essays and critiques that highlight significant themes, authors, and movements, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of the literary world. With insights from renowned critics, the text serves as both an analysis of historical contexts and a commentary on contemporary issues in literature, making it a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts alike.

Focusing on the complexities of Russia's 70-year experience with communism, the author, a leading expert in the field, presents a compelling analysis grounded in his extensive research. The work synthesizes key themes from his previous studies, providing a clear and engaging overview of the historical context and implications of the communist regime. This insightful examination not only reflects the author's mastery of the subject but also invites readers to explore the profound impact of communism on Russian society.

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ANDREY KURKOV A rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance. An absurd and superbly comic story, this classic novel can also be read as a fierce parable of the Russian Revolution.