LENIN'S BROTHER: THE ORIGINS OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION.

New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 276 pp, 9 1/2" H. B&w photographs, maps. "In 1886 Alexander Ulyanov, a brilliant biology student, joined a small group of students at St. Petersburg University to plot the assassination of Russia's tsar. Calling themselves the 'Terrorist Faction of the People's Will', they planned to kill Alexander III on March 1, 1887, the sixth anniversary of his father's assassination by the People's Will. Thus known to history as the 'Second First March', the young terrorists failed disastrously in their mission, and five of them, Alexander Ulyanov included, were hanged. Alexander would have been just another casualty in the long history of Russian revolutionary martyrs were it not for one detail: his younger brother, Vladimir, led the October Revolution of 1917 under his assumed name, 'Lenin'. Exploring the rich array of published documents and the recently opened archives of post-Soviet Russia, (the author) illuminates the mystery at the heart of this story. How did a respectable family preparing its children for professional careers produce both a terrorist and the author of the October Revolution?" Very minor wrinkling at top/bottom of spine. Dust jacket has very minor edge wrinkling.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine.