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Book Nook: Spies and Commissars - the Early Years of the Russian Revolution, by Robert Service

The British historian Robert Service is a leading authority on Russian history with a particular expertise in the period between the October Revolution and the death of Stalin. He is the author of a dozen books including a trilogy of biographies on Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky.

In his latest, "Spies and Commissars - the Early Years of the Russian Revolution," Service examines the four year period from 1917 to 1921 when the Bolsheviks were consolidating their power.

Service shows how Lenin had hoped that similar revolts would occur in Europe during the period of instability following the end of the World War and what prevented these revolutions from happening. Readers meet a number of flamboyant spies who operated during this period. And we discover that a future US President, Herbert Hoover, was instrumental in tamping down discontent through the palliative of massive shipments of food aid to war torn regions.
 

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.