Time of Troubles: The Diary of Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e - Moscow - July 8, 1917 to July 23, 1922

by Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e (editor), Terence Emmons (translator/editor/introduction)

Among the few diaries available from inside early USSR none approaches Iurii V. Got'e's in sustained length of coverage & depth of vivid detail. Got'e was a member of the Moscow intellectual elite--a complex & unusually observant man, who was a Moscow University professor & one of the most prominent historians of Russia at the time the revolution began. Beginning his 1st entry with the words Finis Russiae, he describes his life in revolution-torn Moscow from 7/8/17 thru 7/23/22--nearly the entire period of the Russian Revolution & Civil War up to the advent of the New Economic Policy. This chronicle, published here for the 1st time, describes the hardships undergone by Got'e's family & friends & the gradual takeover of the academic & professional sectors by the new regime. Got'e was in his mid-40s when he wrote. At 1st he felt that Bolshevism meant doom for Russia, but eventually his ardent patriotism led him to accept the Bolsheviks' role in preserving the integrity of the state. The diary was discovered in 1982 in the Hoover Institution Archives, in the papers of Frank Golder, to whom Got'e himself had entrusted it in 1922. It's translated literally & unabridged, with annotations by Terence Emmons. The introduction by Professor Emmons places the diary clearly in the context of Got'e's life & scholarly career.

Genres: Biography

534 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kevin Moynihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Princeton should get this back in print. The parallels with today (2022) as the modern-day Bolsheviks take over the United States is uncanny. There are lots of professional men such as Gote in the area where I live. Awesome to read similar sentiments in the U.S. today but that are from Moscow 100 years ago. People are people.

[Vanjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating personal account of the Russian revolution in diary format by a university professor. His intellect and observations paint a truly clear and disturbing picture of what it was like to live during the Russian revolution. Covering from July 1917 to July 1922 (with an abrupt ending that is not an ending at all) one gets to see the idiocy and inhumanity of this time as seen by someone who loses almost everything.
The introduction by Terence Emmons who also translated it puts the book into context. Nice short, annotated footnotes occupy the bottom of most pages and give the reader additional information to pursue.
I gave it four stars, but only because I am trying to make five-star ratings rare and exceptional. This is however an exceptional book and worth a read for anyone with an interest in Russian history or the Bolshevik revolution.
Note some of his characterizations of the revolution and its people, including leaders, are raw and pejorative in a racial sense.