The University of Notre Dame Press is proud to bring Nobel prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s magnum opus to an English-speaking audience for the first time. One of the masterpieces of world literature, The Red Wheel is Solzhenitsyn’s multivolume epic work about the Russian Revolution told in the form of a historical novel.
In celebration of the publication of March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 3, we are giving away a set of all three March 1917 books published so far, along with a Notre Dame Press tote bag. Enter to win by filling out the form at the bottom of this post.
Can’t wait to start reading? Reviewers, bookstore employees, librarians, and other members of the book industry can request an e-galley through Edelweiss here. We encourage you to leave a review if you enjoyed the book.
“In The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn produced a masterpiece and proved himself a worthy companion of Dostoevsky and rival of Tolstoy.”
—Law and Liberty
The action of Book 3 (out of four) is set during March 16–22, 1917. In Book 3, the Romanov dynasty ends and the revolution starts to roll out from Petrograd toward Moscow and the Russian provinces. The dethroned Emperor Nikolai II makes his farewell to the Army and is kept under guard with his family. In Petrograd, the Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies continue to exercise power in parallel. The war hero Lavr Kornilov is appointed military chief of Petrograd. But the Soviet’s “Order No. 1” reaches every soldier, undermining the officer corps and shaking the Army to its foundations. Many officers, including the head of the Baltic Fleet, the progressive Admiral Nepenin, are murdered. Black Sea Fleet Admiral Kolchak holds the revolution at bay; meanwhile, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, the emperor’s uncle, makes his way to military headquarters, naïvely thinking he will be allowed to take the Supreme Command.
“This is the principal work of the Nobel laureate’s life, to which Solzhenitsyn dedicated several decades and into which poured all his thoughts about the senseless chaos of the modern and postmodern worlds, all told through the prism of that most contingent of events, the Russian Revolution.”
—The New Criterion
All March 1917 books are available for retail purchase through all standard distribution channels. Contact Longleaf Services for the best direct-from-publisher discounts.