Inessa Armand

Elwood's scholarship is...scrupulous...he makes important dicoveries through close comparison of variant editions of texts." Journal of Modern History "...Armand's story--now retold in Inessa Armand: Revolutionary and Feminist, by R.C. Elwood, a professor of history at Carleton University in Canada--is an interesting one, not only as an account of her own life and her connection with Lenin, but also because of the light it throws on prerevolutionary Russian society and on the origins of Communism...We must be grateful to Mr. Elwood for his fastidious scholarship, for the ease with which he moves amid the complex politics of the Russian revolutionary movement and for his most readable book." Adam B. Ulam, The New York Times "...this biography performs an important service in making visible the career of a woman whose life symbolized the interweaving of the personal and political. Such a biography could not be more timely today, when in Russia revolutionary ideals have been consigned to the ashheap of history, but the kind of social conditions usually associated with Tsarist times have reappeared...For those seeking a new path beyond the capitalist cynicism of the present and the revolutionary hypocrisy of the past, Elwood's biography of Inessa Armand helps light the way." Rochelle Ruthchild, The Women's Review of Books "Elwood's carefully researched and detailed political history, written from the viewpoint of female Bolsheviks who worked among women, is a valuable addition to both women's and Soviet studies." Beatrice Farnsworth, American Historical Review "This is a book for specialists but it was the specialists, after all, who for many years were only interested in female bolsheviks if they had had sexual adventures or had rendered loyal service to men. Elwood moves beyond this trivializing approach and by doing so paints a truer picture of the revolutionaries." Slavic Review "...Elwood has done a splendid job bringing Inessa Armand back to history. As in his earlier work, Elwood demonstrates his skills as a master researcher and source detective...this well-crafted, interesting, and respectful book will serve as the standard biography of Armand for some time to come." Lynne Viola, The Historian "This meticulous, thoughtful biography draws on police reports, memoirs and Armand's and Lenin's published letters, as well as a wide range of secondary literature to retrieve Armand from Lenin's shadow and to fill in the details of her life." The Russian Review "Professor R.C. Elwood of Carleton Uniersity has written a magnum opus, the story of Armand's life and work...The book will be of great interest to students of Russian history and women's history." T. Yedlin, Canadian Slavonic Papers