This is the first republication of Rheta Childe Dorr’s book Inside the Russian Revolution (1917), accompanied by the editor’s research introduction and comments. Dorr (1866–1948) was a leading suffragette from Nebraska, studied at the University of Nebraska, before moving to New York as a journalist and first editor of The Suffragette. Living on the lower East Side, she became a socialist. She visited Russia during the first Russian revolution (1905–1907) and later covered the February Revolution of 1917 for the New York Evening Mail.
Her book Inside the Russian Revolution (1917) depicts the overthrow of the tsar as a positive, democratic move with hope of a Russia following the American path to constitutional democracy. The evolution of revolutionary Russia from February to October changed not only Dorr’s perception of the Russian revolution as a phenomenon but her vision of socialism as well. In this sense, she was among the American radicals who contributed to American phenomenology of the 1917 Russian revolution but were not satisfied with its results. Being a prominent figure in the U.S. political and social life of her time, Rheta Dorr expanded the horizons of the Americans’ identity.
Dorr is also known for other publications. In 1922, she assisted Anna Vyrubova, a lady-in-waiting, the best friend and the confidante of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, with the writing of Vyrubova’s memoir, My Memories of the Russian Court. Thereafter, Dorr wrote her own memoir, A Woman of Fifty, published in 1924. Dorr moved from her autobiography to a biography of Susan B. Anthony, published in 1928, and completed her publishing activity in 1929 with a tome on the question of prohibition.
Table of Contents:
Figures; Acknowledgments; Editor’S Introduction; 1 Topsy-Turvy Land; 2 “All The Power To The Soviet”;3 The July Revolution; 4 An Hour Of Hope; 5 The Committee Mania; 6 The Woman With The Gun; 7 To The Front With Bochkareva; 8 In Camp And Battlefield; 9 Amazons In Training; 10 The Homing Exiles—Two Kinds; 11 How Rasputin Died; 12 Anna Vyrubova Speaks; 13 More Leaves In The Current; 14 The Passing Of The Romanovs, 15 The House Of Mary And Martha; 16 The Tavarishi Face Famine; 17 General January, The Conqueror; 18 When The Workers Own Their Tools; 19 Why Cotton Cloth Is Scarce; 20 Mrs. Pankhurst In Russia; 21 Kerensky, The Mystery Man; 22 The Rights Of Small Nations; 23 Will The Germans Take Petrograd?; 24 Russia’S Greatest Needs; 25 What Next?; Index
About the Author :
Victoria I. Zhuravleva is a Doctor in History, Professor of American History and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the Russian State University for the Humanities.
Review :
Rheta Childe Dorr’s portrayal of her 1917 travel in Russia includes vivid eyewitness reports on political debates, public demonstrations, and conversations with a wide range of cultural leaders. Two especially engaging accounts focus on the Women’s Battalion of Death military unit led by Maria Bochkareva, and the Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow, guided by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. —Matthew Lee Miller, PhD, Professor of History, University of Northwestern - St. Paul, St. Paul, Minnesota; Author, The American YMCA and Russian Culture: The Preservation and Expansion of Russian Orthodoxy, 1900-1940.
In Inside the Russian Revolution, Rheta Childe Dorr’s fearless reporting bursts back to life through Victoria I. Zhuravleva’s superbly edited edition. Dorr, trailblazing journalist, feminist, and war correspondent, captures the turbulence of 1917 Russia with vivid immediacy and moral clarity. Zhuravleva’s introduction restores Dorr’s voice to its rightful place in history: bold, nuanced, and incandescent. —Steven A Usitalo, Professor and Chair, Department of History and Social Sciences, Northern State University, Aberdeen, USA.
“Before John Reed and Louise Bryant, there was Rheta Childe Dorr—the pioneering American journalist who
entered revolutionary Petrograd with a suffragist’s idealism and left with a realist’s eye. In Inside the Russian
Revolution, now reissued with a full scholarly apparatus by Victoria I. Zhuravleva, Dorr’s sharp reportage reveals
how one woman’s encounter with upheaval reshaped both her politics and her faith in progress.”
—Ivan Kurilla, Visiting Professor of History, The Ohio State University; author of Americans and All the Rest: The Origin and Meaning of U.S. Foreign Policy (2024, in Russian) and Battle for the Past: How Politics Rewrites History (2025); editor of Carl Ackerman’s Trailing the Bolsheviki: Twelve Thousand Miles with the Allies in Siberia
“This republication of Rheta Childe Dorr’s fascinating and controversial book about the Russian Revolution of
1917 is greatly enhanced by an extraordinarily thorough and insightful introduction written by the editor, the
distinguished historian Victoria Zhuravleva.” —David S. Foglesong, Professor of History, Rutgers University, USA “In Inside the Russian Revolution, Rheta Childe Dorr’s fearless reporting bursts back to life through Victoria I.
Zhuravleva’s superbly edited edition. Dorr, a trailblazing journalist, feminist, and war correspondent, captures the
turbulence of 1917 Russia with vivid immediacy and moral clarity. Zhuravleva’s introduction restores Dorr’s voice
to its rightful place in history: bold, nuanced, and incandescent.”
—Steven A. Usitalo, Professor and Chair, Department of History and Social Sciences, Northern State University, Aberdeen, USA
“A unique eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution authored by an American feminist Rheta Childe Dorr.
The book offers an unflinching and insightful description of the events, giving us a fuller picture of the Revolution
and its impact in the United States. Victoria Zhuravleva’s introduction and editing expertly guide us through this
compelling historical journey.” —Dina Fainberg, The University of London, UK
