Heavy Going - Rated 
I was looking for a fairly brief but reliable guide to a complex subject. This book was, to be honest, a hard read. Well-written in its way, but no light touch for the lay person, and thus it was somewhat onerous to persevere. All the facts are there, but no anecdotal detail to humanize the subject.
Clear, catchy and informative - Rated 
Sheila Fitzpatrick is a well-known academic in the field of modern Russian history. She presents the reader with a good introduction to the turbulent years immediately preceding and following the February and October revolutions. The basic facts are given in a clear, informative and catchy fashion. The model Fitzpatrick follows in her treatment of the Russian revolutinary years is Crane Brinton's, according to whom revolutions have a life cycle passing through phases of increasing fervour till they reach the climax, which is in turn followed by a "Thermidorian" phase of restoration of order.
You may not necessarily agree with such a view (I don't, by the way) but this choice allows Fitzpatrick to organize her work along clearly defined lines that make the events readily understandable in their context by the reader. The Bolsheviks' success in derailing and monopolizing an otherwise popular and widely shared revolutionary effort becomes dramatically clear.
Good summary - bad interpretation - Rated 
The Russian Revolution
This is a set text for Cambridge historians, and i think it shouldn't be. Let me explain why.
This work is a good summary of the Russian Revolution by a cultural historian. I personally disagree with the author on many respects and find that her approach is mired in the dense bog of unnecessary parallelisms, with the main revolutionary characters and events being treated in a rather simplistic way. This gives rise to a number of generalisations that are nothing but useless shorthands that belong to an outdated historiographical tradition. Perhaps it is the format of the work itself rather than the scholarly aptitude of the author that is to blame, however i could not help feeling that the history which was being invoked by S. Fitzpatrick deserved rather more vigour and intensity, especially in the treatment of evidence. To give one example, i consider the entire chronological framework of the work to be flawed and do not think that Lenin's October revolution is to be bundled together with Stalin's totalitarianism. The recurrent metaphors of upheaval as well as the constant referring back to the French Revolution are presented in a somewhat bland and stale manner. Crucially, the Lenin presented here is an emasculated version of the great revolutionary and this picture, it seems, is based primarily on evidence provided by his polemical rivals.
Overall this is very good as a summary of recent scholarship, and for that it deserves 5 stars, but the methodological approach is rather blunt and rusty, not going beyond 2 star rating. As an average then we have 3 stars.
Great for A-level - Rated
This book was lent to me by my hitory teacher, for some catchup work and background reading. I found that not only did it give an overview of the whole revolution but also an in depth look at the topic I required(NEP coincidentally). i would definitely give this a read, no matter who you are, although A-level or GCSE students will probably benefit the most, as it is really easy to read.
Amazing - Rated 
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION by Sheila Fitzpatrick is very concise and excellently written, giving a better understanding of the revolution and its purpose as well as a better outlook to the characters than other books on that era of history. I recommend this book with UNION MOUJIK, PUTIN'S RUSSIA, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LENIN, RUSSIA'S UNFINISHED REVOLUTION to compliment this book on the Russian revolution and its aftermath until today's Russia.
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