Ten Days That Shook the World

Of all the books by American witnesses of the Russian Revolution, John Reed’s Ten Days That Shook the World was and still is the best known. Even thoughtReed arrived in Russia in September 1917 and left in the spring of 1918, his enthusiastic account focuses on the ten key days of the revolution itself, brining to life the sights, sounds, and key people who were so instrumental in this critical event. Reed, officially a journalist, shed his objectivity and supplorted the Boshevik cause, and this book was the key forum in which he made his cause. In the end, the book has survived, and even thrived, as a primary source on the revolution, even thought Reed died in 1920.

William Benton Whisenhunt is Professor of History at College of DuPage. He is the author or editor of seven books on Russian history. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar at Ryazan' State University in Ryazan', Russia in 2006.