[1] The work addresses many major themes and topics that the revolution grew from, including:[1][2] The book opens with an introduction which details the author's perspectives and the questions they are seeking to answer.

The first chapter provides an overview of the half century preceding the main events of the book until the 1905 Revolution, looking at the reigns of Alexander II and III, and the beginning of Nicolas II's reign and concludes as Stalinism emerges during Stalin's consolidation of power and the end of the New Economic Policy, setting the stage for the era of central planning, collectivization, and industrialization.

[1] James D. White writes about Russia in Revolution, "It is a work written mainly for the general reader, though the author hopes that, as a synthesis of recent research by Russian and Western scholars, and as an attempt to question some familiar interpretations, it will have something of interest to say to his academic colleagues.

In this, Smith’s hope is entirely justified, because his book not only provides a useful introduction to the subject, but raises important questions of how the revolutionary period in Russia should be interpreted.

S.A. Smith’s contribution to the debate bridges a divide between specialist academic monographs and studies of the Revolution designed to engage a wide audience, with the book "primarily written for the reader coming new to the subject.