Cathy Porter – författare

Alexandra Kollontai inspired generations of socialists in Russia with her pioneering views on sex and the family. A revolutionary activist and writer, she was the only woman in the first Bolshevik government in 1917. This second edition of Cathy Porter's biography draws on newly-published memoirs, diaries and letters to offer fresh insights into Kollontai's stormy political life. It tell of her fight for workers' democracy and women's rights, her love affairs, her disagreements with the Bolshevik party, and her last years 'in exile' as a Soviet diplomat in Norway, Mexico and Sweden.

Alexandra Kollontai was a key leader of the Russian Socialist movement, the only woman in the early Soviet government, and one of the most famous women in Russian history. She worked tirelessly all her life, as a speaker, writer, and organizer for women's emancipation. This compelling biography recounts her life for an emerging generation of fighters for women's liberation.

"She burst across the revolutionary sky like a blazing meteor, dazzling all in her path," Trotsky wrote. For the poet Boris Pasternak, she was Lara, the heroine of his novel Doctor Zhivago.Commissar, revolutionary fighter, espionage agent, journalist, Larisa Reisner (1895–1926) was a model for the 'new woman' of the Russian Revolution, and one of its most popular and brilliant writers, whose works were published in mass editions and read by millions. In this sweeping biography, Cathy Porter sets her life against the backdrop of the world-shaking events of 1917. Drawing on material recently released from the Soviet archives, Porter tells Reisner's story through the memories of those close to her, her own voluminous writings, and her six books—published for the first time together with this biography.

‘She burst across the revolutionary sky like a blazing meteor, dazzling all in her path,’ Trotsky wrote. For the poet Boris Pasternak, she was Lara, the heroine of his novel Doctor Zhivago. Commissar, revolutionary fighter, espionage agent, journalist, Larisa Reisner (1895–1926) was a model for the ‘new woman’ of the Russian Revolution, and one of its most popular and brilliant writers, whose works were published in mass editions and read by millions. Her life is set against the world-shaking events of 1917, and draws on material recently released from the Soviet archives to tell her story through the memories of those close to her, her own voluminous writings, and her six books, published for the first time together by Brill with this biography.This biography is accompanied by Brill’s publication of Cathy Porter and Richard Chappell’s Writings of Larisa Reisner, published as volume 302 in the Historical Materialism book series.

Larisa Reisner (1895--1926), fighter, commissar, diplomat, was one of the most brilliant and popular writers of the Russian Revolution, whose journalism from her travels in Russia and Ukraine, Germany, Persia and Afghanistan was read by millions in the new mass circulation Soviet press. Together here for the first time in translation are the six books of her journalism, The Front, Afghanistan, Berlin October 1923, Hamburg at the Barricades and In Hindenburg’s Country, all written in the last nine years of her life, before her death at the age of thirty, published as the companion volume to Cathy Porter’s Larisa Reisner. A Biography.