I was a bit skeptical at first. a long diary about the Bolshevik ideology that I already don't believe in from a writers whose magnum opus I liked but didn't feel was the best thing ever. But dang, I was wrong. I learned more about that period from a single book than I learned in decades. I even learned about stuff that I as a Jew should have already known of and was surprised to find out how shallow was my knowledge. The best way to know what the Russian revolution was like was to live through it. The second best way might genuinely be this book.