Short, condensed writing with a relatively cumbersome style but captivating subject matter that offers a fair, honest perspective on post-revolutionary Russian society, the conditions that led to the fall of Tsarism, and the crazy way in which this happened. The first part is the desperate cry of a Russian intellectual, exasperated by the Potemchian society in which he lives and the ease with which it accepts to live in a lie. The second part is an empirical analysis of the context in which the Bolshevik revolution broke out, of the weakness and impotence of Tsar Nicholas II and the system of power he patronized, of the degringolade that accompanied the change of regime and the absurd way in which the empire ceded power to a undefined and disorderly gangs of proletarian agitators. It provides more understanding of the Bolshevik revolution than you can find in well-written histories of Russia and sharpens your sense of revolt knowing that what happened there held back the development of the neighboring peoples for decades. It is well worth reading.