The extraordinary life of Boris Savinkov, revolutionary assassin, self-described terrorist, and novelist, is one of those historical enigmas peculiar to the tragedy of modern Russia. He is resurrected on the hands of a masterful biographer who expertly mines the archives to write a spy story filled with passion and improbable adventures and along the way we learn a great deal of history. A flamboyant hero to some, an untrustworthy villain to others, Savinkov was an enigmatic figure in revolutionary Russia and still a legendary figure, yet this complex individual has all been but forgotten in the West. The book looks at his controversial role in the Russian Revolution and the Civil War about whom Winston Churchill said: 'Few men tried more, gave more, dared more and suffered more for the Russian people.' A scandalous novelist, Savinkov was a friend of epoch-defining artists like Modigliani and Diego Rivera, a government minister, a tireless fighter against Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and an advisor to Churchill. At the end of his life he conspired to be captured by the Soviet Secret Police as the country's most prized political prisoner. He made headlines around the world when he claimed that he accepted the Bolshevik state, but as his biographer argues, this was his final play as a gambler - he had staked his life on a secret plan to strike one last blow against the tyrannical regime. Neither a 'Red' nor a 'White', Savinkov lived a life that challenges many popular myths about the Russian Revolution and was arguably the most important catalyst of 20th century world history. His efforts were directed at transforming Russia into a uniquely democratic, humane and enlightened state, but the support he received from many of his countrymen suggest that the tyranny of communism, the authoritarianism of Putin's regime were not the only ones written in Russia's historical destiny. Savinkov's goals remain a poignant reminder of how things in Russia could have been and his life story is written with novelistic verve and filled with triumphs, disasters, dramatic twists and contradictions that defined his life. It begins with his childhood in Russian Poland and how a remarkable man became a terrorist to fight the tyrannical Russian imperial regime during a time when popular revolution overthrew it in 1917 and turned his wrath against the Bolsheviks because they betrayed the Revolution and the freedoms it won. Savinkov sent men and women to their deaths, but could recite Romantic poetry for hours and wrote novels and memoirs that are read to this day. He believed in the rights of human beings, but concluded only that a dictator could guarantee them during periods of great national upheaval. A 562 page magnificent history which includes all his British connections and has eight pages of photos plus maps on endpapers.
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