The Russian Revolution - by Richard Pipes

This two-volume history (often referenced as a single comprehensive work) chronicles the origins, events, and immediate aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, from the decline of Tsarism through Lenin's Bolshevik regime. Pipes, a Harvard historian, argues provocatively that it was not a genuine popular uprising but an intellectual-led coup d'état by a minority elite, steeped in terror from the outset and driven by messianic ideologies rather than class struggle, drawing on newly accessible archives to challenge traditional Marxist interpretations.