Artyom Vesyolys harrowing novel belongs on the shelf beside the works of Isaac Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov and other modernist masters of the early Soviet period. Translator Kevin Windles flawless command of idiom and sensitivity to the slightest nuances of tone impresses on every page. Boris Dralyuk, Executive Editor, Los Angeles Review of Books This translation is a gift to anyone interested in Russian history and to readers in general. The immediacy of Vesyolys account of the Civil War is reminiscent of Babels Red Cavalry but conveys to an intense degree a sense of having been lived. This is a gem, presented here in full for the first time. Kevin Windles translation gives the impression of detracting nothing from the vivid authenticity of Vesyolys experience as rendered in these arresting tales. Tom Keneally, Novelist Windles monumental work brings English-speaking readers Vesyolys panorama depicting the violence and complexity of Russias civil war in the peripheral regions of Georgia, North Caucasus and southeastern Ukraine -- contemporary conflict zones of Donetsk and Lugansk. Through Windles masterful translation readers experience the terrible years following the Bolshevik Revolution. Mary Schaeffer Conroy, Emeritus Professor, Russian/Soviet History, University of Colorado, Denver, USA The broad canvas and episodic structure of Vesyolys masterpiece captures the chaos and contradictions of the revolution unfolding across Russia in 1917. Russia Washed in Blood captures the horror, but there are shafts of humour and heroism as well. Sheila Fitzpatrick, Professor, Australian Catholic University Vesyoly vividly conveys the atmosphere of the Russian Civil War -- its impossible hopes, its numbing brutality, its wild music. Robert Chandler, Honorary Research Fellow, Queen Mary University, London
