"A controversial figure in Russian history earns an impassioned, long-overdue treatment.  This thoroughgoing biography builds [Savinkov’s] story with meticulous, novelistic detail . . . Throughout this fascinating historical biography, Alexandrov demonstrates his facility with the Soviet archives, delivering a scholarly yet accessible work perfect for library collections.  A painstaking work of archival research that unearths little-known details of early Soviet history."

Kirkus Starred Review

​

"an exhaustively researched biography of Russian revolutionary Boris Savinkov (1879–1925) . . . Marshalling a large cast of characters and a mountain of research into a fluid narrative, Alexandrov clarifies the complex dynamics of the Russian Revolution. This trenchant biography gives its fascinating subject his due."

Publishers Weekly

​

"In an age of extremes, Boris Savinkov was neither Red nor White, and his story shows a complexity to Russian history and the paths not taken that throws all our assumptions into disarray."

Literary Hub’s CrimeReads: 5 Nonfiction Books You Should Read This Month (September 2021)

​

"engagingly and thoroughly readable new biography . . . important and fascinating book."

The Critic (UK), November 2021

​

“this compelling study . . . distils a great deal of research into a fast-paced narrative [that] reads like a political thriller . . . it is a story Alexandrov tells with aplomb.”

Times Literary Supplement (UK), November 19, 2021. Reprint in The Spectator World (UK), November 23, 2021.

​

"This excellent study expertly chronicles the complexities of the Russian Revolution and the Civil War through the extraordinary life of Boris Savinkov . . . The breadth of Alexandrov’s research is highly impressive as is his large cast of characters, whom he handles very deftly . . .This very welcome biography now brings Savinkov’s adventures to a whole new audience."

History of War (UK), November 25, 2021.

​

​