author
Albert Rhys Williams
1883–1962
A vivid firsthand chronicler of revolution, he wrote with the urgency of someone who had been in the room when history turned. His books blend reporting, political conviction, and on-the-ground experience in Russia during the upheavals of the early 20th century.
1 Audiobook
In the Claws of the German Eagle
by Albert Rhys Williams
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1883, Albert Rhys Williams was an American journalist, labor organizer, and public speaker who became closely associated with the Russian Revolution. He was especially known for writing in support of the Bolshevik cause, drawing on his own experiences as a witness to the events of 1917.
Before becoming widely known as an author on Russia, he studied at Marietta College and Hartford Theological Seminary and worked as a minister and activist. His career moved steadily toward journalism and political advocacy, and he became part of a circle of American radicals and observers interested in labor politics and international change.
Williams is remembered mainly for his memoirs and reportage about revolutionary Russia, which gave readers a passionate, firsthand account of a world being remade. He died in 1962, leaving behind work that still interests readers looking for eyewitness perspectives on one of the 20th century's defining upheavals.