Customer Reviews
Excellent book, impressively written - By: J. de Jonge, 26 Jul 2008 
Definitely a must-have for anyone interestedin Russian history. Well written, brilliantly researched, a classic.
Lenin - The Genius - By: demola, 10 Mar 2008 
What do you know about Lenin? I knew he was chief instigator of the October Revolution & the man behind Leninism & inside the mausoleum. That was all until this book came along. It turns out that Volodya was an intellectual jagganath & an egoist of manic proportions.
It is instructive to trace how someone so well educated can turn out to be so tunnel visioned & so monstrous. I think Robert Service provides an incredible account from Lenin's youth & his stellar academic record to his conversion to the cause through to his duplicitous rise to power. This is an amazing tale of a madcap without whom the history of the 20th century would have been so very different & arguably better.
The problem here is that Service spoils the good work with a healthy sprinkling of personal comments like "that serves him right" etc. This give the writing a polish of amateurism. Nevertheless, this is the only Lenin book that I will read. If you're looking for a book heavy on political writings & revolutionary theory then this is probably quite not the book for you. However if you just wish to understand this oddball of a genius - spoilt brat, lover, anarchist, marxist, fervid revolutionary, friend & foe, doublecrosser, rhetorician, leftist saint - then you should read this.
Take care to step over the author's irritating opinions.
A Party Without Guests - By: Phil O'Pastry, 30 Dec 2007 There is no doubt that Lenin achieved a level of recognition that will continue for as long as humans maintain a sentient capacity. The fact remains, however, that he gained this recognition largely through his association with others. Robert Service's biography does not acknowledge this aspect. In fact, those central to Lenin's rise are not even mentioned.
Martin Amis brilliantly encapsulated this problemin his 2004 Guardian review: 'Service's biography of this unique figure is flawed not by its inclusions but by its myopic exclusions. It is impossible to present a balanced account of Lenin without reference to the other three Beatles.'
Very Good - By: HBH, 17 Dec 2007 
Lenin by Robert Service is a very interesting & well-written book which deals with the life of the great revolutionary. Although it is perhaps not as detailed as some people would like it is very enjoyable & gives an insight into the life of this middle-class intellectual who became a working-class leader.
Well written, but don't expect the full story of 1917 - By: Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw, 03 Jan 2007 A very well written book that successfully evokes the atmosphere of turn of the century Russia. Unusually for a biography, the youth of Lenin is actually quite interesting, & Service knows to quickly move on to keep the narrative moving. Occasionally, however, you wish for more details - the execution of his brother, for example, happens so suddenly it is almost shocking.
By the middle of the book you are yearning to get to the revolutionary events of 1917, but again once there, it would have been good to have more details about events 'on the ground', & if you want a book about the 1917 revolution, it may be better to buy something more specifically about that (the impression here is that Lenin capitalised on circumstances more than he was actually involvedin them). That aside, the whole is a fascinating tale told well. Service is not afraid to give his own occasional opinion on matters, while there's some analysis of how the communist revolution affected politics elsewherein Europe, particularlyin the reactive rise of fascism.
