This October the world commemorates the centenary of the Russian Revolution, one of the crucial moments of the twentieth century, and an event passionately fought over by those on all sides of the political spectrum. will contain writing by Russians and by foreigners who went to Russia and for whom the Russian Revolution was a political litmus test. The themes—hunger and heating, the limits of personal freedom, the infallibility of the party, free love, the role of art in the revolution—dominated twentieth century intellectual life and continue to resonate today. Many books on the Russian Revolution will be published in the centenary year, but will be unique in portraying this momentous event through the writings of those who witnessed it (or its immediate after-effects). Following and , it is an anthology that vividly portrays the many sides of an event that changed the course of world history—and is still contested today. “Leninists, Bolsheviks, anarchists and communists, thugs, registered housebreakers – what a muddle! What a Satanic vinaigrette! What immense work – to raise once more and cleanse from all this garbage the great idea of socialism.” —Teffi