November 1916

The month of November 1916 in Russia was outwardly unmarked by seismic events, but beneath the surface, society seethed fiercely. As no other could, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn makes us experience the whole bubbling caldron. In Petrograd, luxury-store windows are still brightly lit; the Duma debates stormily about the monarchy, the course of war, and clashing paths to reform; the workers in the miserable munitions factories veer increasingly toward sedition. At the front all is stalemate except for sudden death's capricious visits, while in the countryside sudden anxiety among hard-pressed farmers is rapidly replacing patriotism. In Zurich, Lenin, with the smallest of all revolutionary groups, plots his sinister logistical miracle. With masterly and moving empathy, through the eyes of both historical and fictional protagonists, Solzhenitsyn unforgettably transports us to that time and place -- the last of pre-Soviet Russia.