Pale Horse

Expertly introduced and translated, Pale Horse takes its place for English-language readers in a Russian tradition of novels about radical intellectuals that stretches from Turgenev and Dostoevsky to Bely and writers of the early Soviet period. Its characters are as ambiguous as Savinkov himself — terrorist and confessional writer, Social Revolutionary and proto-fascist. Essential reading for anyone interested in Russian modernism or in the terrorist mentality.

In his thinly-disguised autobiographical work, the Socialist Revolutionary assassin and later anti-Bolshevik activist Boris Savinkov provides fascinating insight into the psychology and motivations of socialist terrorists in prerevolutionary Russia. The book is a valuable resource for anyone wishing to understand the revolutionary underground in Russia at this time.

For anyone interested in the psychology of terrorism, in the morality of killing for a cause, or in the seductive thrill of extreme situations, this novel, written by a prominent terrorist will prove fascinating. Expertly translated and annotated by Michael Katz, it brings to life disturbing and complex questions often overlooked by those who romanticize (or dismiss) revolutionary violence.