6 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Cuban revolutionary and Prime Minister/President (1959–2008) — who led the Cuban Revolution, allied with the Soviet Union, survived 638 CIA assassination attempts (according to Cuban intelligence), nationalized US companies, and maintained a communist dictatorship 90 miles from Florida for 60 years.
James Billington's 1980 history of revolutionary ideology from the Romantic era to the early 20th century — arguing that modern revolutionary movements drew on a quasi-religious faith in secular salvation through historical transformation.
American historian of Russia who wrote The Icon and the Axe, Fire in the Minds of Men, and Russia in Search of Itself — and who served as Librarian of Congress for 28 years (1987–2015).
Founding chairman of the People's Republic of China — who led the Communist Party to victory in the civil war (1949), launched the Great Leap Forward (1958–62, 45 million deaths) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) — the most lethal political figure in history by direct policy consequences.
British historian who wrote A People's Tragedy, The Whisperers, Natasha's Dance, and Crimea — providing accessible narrative histories of Revolutionary Russia, Soviet social history, and Russian cultural history — one of the most widely read popular historians of Russia.
Russian revolutionary and founding leader of the Soviet Union — whose Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 nationalized all private industry including the Nobel oil operations — representing in the Founders context the existential political risk that can destroy even the most successful business empires.