Nobel Prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “March 1917, Book 2,” is Available in a Paperback Edition

During this year’s Nobel Prize season, the University of Notre Dame Press is proud to announce the release of a new paperback edition of our Nobel Prize in Literature winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 2. The action of Book 2 (of four) of March 1917 is set during March 13–15, 1917, the Russian Revolution’s turbulent second week, when the nation unraveled, eventually leading to the Bolshevik takeover. Marian Schwartz’s brilliant translation is the first time this portion of March 1917 has been published in English. The book is part of The Center for Ethics and Culture Solzhenitsyn Series.

March 1917, Book 2, covers the three days of the February Revolution, which is shown as an immense national unraveling that corrupted public morality and destroyed social cohesion, often with sadistic brutality, and that inevitably led to the Bolshevik takeover eight months later. This historical catastrophe, Solzhenitsyn believed, was due to the fecklessness of the imperial elites all the way up to the terminally mediocre Czar Nicholas II; the revolutionaries’ blind lust for destruction; and the estrangement of the bulk of the people from God and country.”

National Review

“Here we see how a millennium-old nation ruled by a monarchy that had lasted a good three centuries fell apart in three days. Book 2 of March 1917 powerfully reveals how a decent if flawed political and social order collapsed ‘with incredible alacrity,’ as Solzhenitsyn writes elsewhere.”

The New Criterion

March 1917, Book 2 received the Foreword INDIES Silver Book of the Year Award in History, was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and was longlisted for the Read Russia Book Prize.

The Red Wheel Interactive Map, available here, is a new companion resource to The Red Wheel, bringing the story to life and allowing the reader to explore the historical landmarks and visualize the Revolution like never before. With this map, readers can view important locations from the books both as they appeared during the Revolution and how they look today with both English and Russian descriptions. Tour Mikhail Nikolaevich’s palace and learn the history of Cubat’s restaurant during an exploration of 1917 Petrograd and modern-day St. Petersburg.

Don’t miss this book video for the March 1917, Book 2, or The Wilson Center’s podcast “The Revolution at Last: Accelerating to Oblivion in Solzhenitsyn’s March 1917.”

The March 1917, Book 2, paperback is available wherever books are sold. We encourage you to support your local independent bookstore either in-person or online.

For more information, contact: Kathryn Pitts, University of Notre Dame Press, pitts.5@nd.edu, 574.631.3267.

This piece first appeared at undpressnews.nd.edu.

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