Red at Heart

By Elizabeth McGuire,

Book cover of Red at Heart: How Chinese Communists Fell in Love with the Russian Revolution

Book description

Beginning in the 1920s thousands of Chinese revolutionaries set out for Soviet Russia. Once there, they studied Russian language and experienced Soviet communism, but many also fell in love, got married, or had children. In this they were similar to other people from all over the world who were enchanted…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Red at Heart as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Did young communists fall in love, conduct passionate affairs under the noses of disapproving commissars, and break every revolutionary rule in the book?

The topic seemed so fascinating that I read Elizabeth McGuire’s book in one sitting. She took me on an exciting journey with a generation of young Chinese revolutionaries who were swept up in the maelstrom of the Russian revolution. I learned how they were seduced by the Russian language, how they devoured great works of Russian literature, and the writings of revolutionaries, terrorists, and anarchists.

The stories of Chinese students as translators, educators, and aspiring revolutionaries, as…

If you love Red at Heart...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Red at Heart?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Red at Heart.

Browse books like Red at Heart

Book cover of After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Book cover of How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Anti-Semitism, Ballet to Bolshevism
Book cover of Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,585

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Red at Heart, you might also like...

Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? By Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

Book cover of Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism

Grand Old Unraveling By John Kenneth White,

It didn’t begin with Donald Trump. When the Republican Party lost five straight presidential elections during the 1930s and 1940s, three things happened: (1) Republicans came to believe that presidential elections are rigged; (2) Conspiracy theories arose and were believed; and (3) The presidency was elevated to cult-like status.

Long…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in China, the Soviet Union, and international relations?

China 662 books
The Soviet Union 380 books