Book excerpt: The lives of three men who made the Russian Revolution possible—Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin—are the focus of this biographical account of the rise of socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bertram Wolfe, a political scientist and historian of Russia, knew Trotsky and Stalin personally, and here brings his profound insider's knowledge to bear on his subjects. Three Who Made a Revolution recounts the early lives and influences of the three leaders, and shows the development of their diverging ideologies as decades gave strength to their cause and brought Russia closer to its turning point, a revolution that would alter the course of the twentieth century.