This is a history of the Russian revolution reported by an American journalist Rheta Louise Childe Dorr. As Door confessed in the introductory chapter of her work, she was educated in the spirit of the French Revolution and was inspired by socialist ideas. This made her come to Russia to become a part and an eyewitness of the revolution against tzarism. Yet, the events in Russia were totally disappointing: "I saw a working class which had been oppressed under czardom itself turn oppressor; an army that had been starved and betrayed use its freedom to starve and betray its own people. I saw elected delegates to the people's councils turn into sneak thieves and looters. I saw law and order and decency and all regard for human life or human rights set aside, and I saw responsible statesmen in power allow all this to go on." Based on the events she witnessed, Dorr created this rare historical account of the horrible side of the Russian revolution, which became an essential source for accurate historical information and a revelation for people living a century after those events.

Rheta Louise Childe Dorr (1868–1948) was an American journalist, suffragist activist, newspaper editor, writer, and political activist. She is best remembered as one of the leading female muckraking journalists of the Progressive era. She was also the first editor of the influential newspaper, The Suffragist.