Utopia's Discontents

When we describe the October Revolution as a 'world-historical event', this is usually understood to refer to the global consequences of the rise of the first Marxist state. Faith Hillis, in a brilliant move, has turned this sequence of events on its head. Utopia's Discontents shows how people, places and events situated far beyond the borders of Russia shaped the Revolution. The October Revolution, she shows, was world-historical at its root....Utopia's Discontents narrates the history of these utopian communities in fascinating, intimate detail....An excellent example of history that steps beyond disciplinary divisions and national boundaries. * Kevin M.F. Platt, Times Literary Supplement * Utopia's Discontents literally puts the history of the Russian Revolution-and all that came with it-on the map. By moving our point of reference to the emigre and exile peripheries at the core of twentieth-century history, this fascinating study of the 'Russian colonies' in Europe offers an inspiringly original take on the history of 'post-colonialism.' With uncommon narrative ease and rigorous attention to detail, Hillis does to the reigning historiography of the revolutionary movements what her protagonists did to the liberal order of the late nineteenth century. The history of ideas just got a good deal richer. * Holly Case, author of Age of Questions * Vividly narrated and brimming with insight, Utopia's Discontents brings to life the storied 'Russian colonies' of western Europe's major cities, where revolutions were plotted and new countries imagined. Faith Hillis brilliantly recreates the dense neighborhoods, intimate, often fraught social relationships, and high-pitched theoretical arguments that characterized life in the Russian colonies. Utopia's Discontents is a multi-layered study, at once richly local in focus and broad in scope. It is a truly exciting book. * Tony Michels, author of A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York * This ground-breaking book rethinks the history of Russia's revolutionaries through their lives in exile communities. Place mattered in their story: for inspiration, for encounters, for everyday radical practices. The book is a rich history of ideas-freedom, equality, community, and justice, and socialism-but as everyday practices rather than dreamy abstractions. Not least, this is magisterial research, written in an accessible and compelling manner. * Mark Steinberg, author of The Russian Revolution, 1905-21 *