Shtakser reviewed Former people by Smith, Douglas
Review of 'Former people' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Rather disappointing, I'm afraid. Admittedly my expectations were very high. Smith, after all, is the author of a wonderful book on Russian free masons Working the Rough Stone. In addition the topic is very interesting and the author was in possession of much data. I can also see why some people enjoyed the book - Smith is an excellent writer. The main problem I had was that he did not really attempt to analyze his data. He ended up telling a very sad story about the tragic fate of Russian aristocrats after the 1917 revolution, but did not really try to analyze the context. After reading this book I do not feel I can better understand what happens with the former elites after a social revolution. In a way the book reminds me of these novels dealing with human rights violations, but not attempting to understand these in political, rather …
Rather disappointing, I'm afraid. Admittedly my expectations were very high. Smith, after all, is the author of a wonderful book on Russian free masons Working the Rough Stone. In addition the topic is very interesting and the author was in possession of much data. I can also see why some people enjoyed the book - Smith is an excellent writer. The main problem I had was that he did not really attempt to analyze his data. He ended up telling a very sad story about the tragic fate of Russian aristocrats after the 1917 revolution, but did not really try to analyze the context. After reading this book I do not feel I can better understand what happens with the former elites after a social revolution. In a way the book reminds me of these novels dealing with human rights violations, but not attempting to understand these in political, rather than moral, context. While this is acceptable in a novel, I do feel a historian should have done better.