This book provides a visually-stimulating survey of revolutionary Russia, from the collapse of the autocracy in 1917 to the consolidation of the Stalinist system in the 1930s. The focus of the narrative is on how the effort to build communism in Russia affected the lives of ordinary people. The authors have collected far flung documents, photographs, posters, and objects and strung them into a narrative with introductions to each chapter and document, sidebars, and detailed photo captions. While the main text tantalizes readers with the great vision, conflict, hopes, and horrors of this much-mythologized part of modern history, the backmatter provides resources for further exploration. Topics include the prelude to revolution, the Bolshevik rise to power, the fate of the royal family, peasant resistance to Bolshevik policies, Stalin's "revolution from above," the Great Terror, and a picture essay on women's liberation.