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The Russian Revolution Reading List from Haymarket Books

To mark the centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Haymarket Books offers a reading list that showcases the promise, highlights the potential, and analyzes the shortcomings and ultimate downfall of the first successful workers’ revolution in history.
The Death Agony of the Monarchy: Russia on the Eve of Revolution

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated a hundred years ago today, bringing to an end three centuries of Romanov rule. In this extract from his History of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky describes the final days of Imperial Russia. Incompetent, vain, and almost comically ignorant of the historic events unfolding around it, the Tsarist regime fell, in Trotsky's words, "like rotten fruit."

Featured Books

The Mother of All Questions

by Rebecca Solnit

Rebecca Solnit’s timely follow-up to her national bestseller Men Explain Things to Me offers a refreshing take on contemporary feminism.
Long Shot

by Rory Fanning and Craig Hodges

Two-time NBA champion Craig Hodges has never been shy about speaking truth to power.
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

by Angela Y. Davis and Angela Y Davis

Activist, teacher, author and icon of the Black Power movement Angela Davis talks Ferguson, Palestine, and prison abolition.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book
Concerning Violence

Edited by Göran Olsson and Sophie Vukovic

A beautiful photographic exploration of the revolutionary movements in Africa in the '60s and 70's.

Hope in the Dark

by Rebecca Solnit

Solnit reminds us of how changed the world has been by the activism of the past five decades.
A People's History of Chicago

by Kevin Coval

Named "Best Chicago Poet" by The Chicago Reader, Kevin Coval channels Howard Zinn to celebrate the Windy City's hidden history.
Undivided Rights

by Marlene Gerber Fried, Marlene G Fried, et al.

Undivided Rights captures the evolving and largely unknown activist history of women of color organizing for reproductive justice.
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

by Deepa Kumar

Islamophobia examines the origins of the ongoing assault on Muslims and Arabs in the U.S., and the "war on terror"
No One Is Illegal

by Justin Akers Chacón and Mike Davis

No One Is Illegal debunks the leading ideas behind the often-violent right-wing backlash against immigrants.

Ali Abunimah

"Ali Abunimah is the most astute commentator writing on Palestine today."
—Moustafa Bayoumi
Noam Chomsky

"There is no living political writer who has more radically changed how more people think in more parts of the world about political issues."
—Glenn Greenwald
Angela Y. Davis

"Here is someone worthy of the Ancestors who delivered her. Angela Davis has stood her ground on every issue important to the health of our people and the planet."
—Alice Walker
Jesse Hagopian

"Jesse Hagopian is doing more than teaching history. He is answering history’s call."
–John Young
Deepa Kumar

"An antiracist and antiwar activist, as well as a model scholar-teacher, Kumar has written a comprehensive and most readable guide to exposing and opposing the hatred of Islam."
—Gilbert Achcar

Arundhati Roy

"Arundhati Roy is incandescent in her brilliance and her fearlessness."
—Junot Díaz
Rebecca Solnit

"No writer has weighed the complexities of sustaining hope in our times of readily available despair more thoughtfully and beautifully, nor with greater nuance."
—Maria Popova
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

"Taylor has absconded from the ivory tower to break down the current Movement for Black Lives, arguing that it holds the potential to reignite a broader push for black liberation."
—The Root
Howard Zinn

“Few people changed more lives than Howard Zinn."
—Naomi Klein
Dave Zirin

"Dave Zirin has long stood on the edge of the sports writing world, exploding topics many of his colleagues are scared to approach."
—Glenn Greenwald