The Life of Lenin Paperback – 19 April 2001

Good book9

What could I say: A Must

This is an attempt at a biography of Lenin. But unfortunately it's not a good book.The author knew Lenin, and disliked much of what Lenin did. Okay - that's fine. But this personal dislike affects the book, and in consequence it's too biased.The book is quite lengthy, and some serious effort has been made. Yet the author did not have adequate access to the relevant documents so as to produce a thorough and comprehensive biography. So, instead of genuine sources, the author relies on such things as personal recollection and newspaper articles. Such materials are fine to an extent, but simply not sufficient to produce a biography on one of the most important and influential figure of the past century.I'm left thinking that this is a poor book. So much so that I simply can't see that it contributes at all to understanding Lenin.Nonetheless, because it was one of the first attempts to produce a lengthy biography of Lenin, it has received much attention - and if often considered a classic.If you're a student, you might be interested in it. Otherwise I suggest avoiding it.

This book was written 48 years ago and is still the best and most informative book you can read about Lenin without being able to read Russian.