Three Revolutions
Russia, China, Cuba and the Epic Journeys that Changed the World
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
'A colourful and enjoyably written account.'THE TIMES
'An engaging story of political odysseys.'TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'A salve for our current reactionary times.' ANDREW HARTMAN
The gripping, untold story of how six epic journeys launched the three communist revolutions that changed world history forever.
From the streets of Petrograd during the heady autumn of 1917, to Mao's stunning victory in October 1949, and Fidel's triumphant arrival in Havana, in January 1959, the history of the twentieth century was transformed in dramatic and profound ways by the Russian, Chinese, and Cuban revolutions.
In Three Revolutions, the stories of these epoch-defining events are told together for the first time. At the heart of each revolution was an epic journey: Lenin's 1917 return to Russia from exile in Switzerland; Mao's 'Long March' of 1934-35, covering some 6,000 miles across China; and Fidel Castro's return to Cuba in 1956 following his exile in Mexico. Told in tandem with these are the corresponding journeys of three extraordinary journalists - John Reed, Edgar Snow and Herbert L. Matthews - whose electric testimony from the frontlines of each revolution would make a decisive contribution to how these revolutions were understood in the wider world.
Here, in Simon Hall's masterful retelling, these six remarkable journeys are brought vividly to life. Featuring a stellar cast, extraordinary drama and an epic sweep, Three Revolutions raises fundamental questions about the nature of political power, the limits of idealism and the role of the journalist - questions that remain of utmost urgency today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Hall (Ten Days in Harlem) reconsiders in this sweeping account how three "epoch-defining" uprisings—the communist revolutions in Russia, China, and Cuba—were shaped in the popular imagination by the American journalists who reported on the "epic journeys" of their revolutionary leaders. He begins with John Reed, a leftist journalist who wrote Ten Days That Shook the World (1919), a passionate account of Vladimir Lenin and the October Revolution that would come to be viewed as a "handbook" for future revolutionaries. Hall then pivots to Edgar Snow, author of the bestseller Red Star over China (1937), an as-told-to autobiography of Mao Zedong; and to Herbert Matthews's genial 1957 New York Times interview with Fidel Castro. In lucid and enlightening passages, Hall traces these works' complex ramifications among both radicals who revered them and anticommunists who smeared them. Less gratifying are Hall's long recreations of the "epic journeys" themselves—Lenin's secret passage through a hostile Germany and the Red Army's Long March through China make for at times high-octane reading, but their lengthy inclusion feels off-point. Hall's tight focus on the mythologizing power of these journalistic reports means that the politics of the revolutions and motivations of the revolutionaries themselves go somewhat underaddressed. Still, this contains keen insights and some riveting histories that will appeal to readers interested in the radical movements of the 20th century.
