Putting the Naton First
Edward Acton is disappointed by a new book on early 20th century Russia
Russia's Failed Revolutions: From the Decembrists to the Dissidents, by Adam B. Ulam
vii+453 pp. (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1981)
Russia's Failed Revolutions is a disappointing book. Adam Ulam is a knowledgeable historian who can write with elegance and precision. His numerous publications on Russian and Soviet history are said to influence the highest echelons of the American political and military establishment. Here he offers what promises to he a major interpretative study of a central question of modern Russian history: 'What was it that at decisive moments has frustrated or flawed the libertarian intentions of Russia's revolutionaries and reformers?' Historians have advanced a host of answers to this question – social, economic, geographic, military – but Ulam's 400-page answer can be summed up in one word: nationalism.
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