Demons

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1821–1881 · Russia

Originally Besy (Russian)

Why it matters

A cell of radical conspirators in a provincial town, modeled on a real political murder, spirals from ideology into arson, suicide, and assassination. Dostoevsky's most directly political novel is also his most prophetic: a portrait of revolutionary nihilism the twentieth century proved chillingly accurate.

At a glance

A sprawling cast of aliases and ideologues, plus dense political argument, obscures the plot's shape.