Let me be frank, I am researching this for a school paper on the subject matter and so it falls under the category of a homework question. I've been looking into the topic for some time now but I cannot seem to find any books on the subject matter. What I find are articles and websites and even then they are limited. It ends up being one of those "historians have debated this for a while" type answers that doesn't really get to a final conclusion.I am not here to get someone to do my research for me. All I am asking is for sources where I may find an answer to this question. So, if anyone is aware of some good books on this topic I'd love to know them. Thank you!
I've been looking into the topic for some time now but I cannot seem to find any books on the subject matter.
I've already mentioned a "starter set" of contemporary sources on October Revolution here:
All are available in English, easy to read, and (IIRC) legally available in digital form.
It ends up being one of those "historians have debated this for a while" type answers that doesn't really get to a final conclusion.
Because history - scientific, not Hollywood history - doesn't dabble in Ultimate Truths. There is no "final conclusion". Russia was a mess, government was falling apart, and Bolsheviks had a plan - which succeeded on second attempt (first being "July days" - we could've ended up with 4th of July being the day of Communist Revolution; instead we got Trotsky's birthday).
When the articles you've found say "historians have debated this," do they mention any historians by name? What about browsing the citations on related Wikipedia pages for some post-1990 scholarly (here: acceptable by your instructor) sources?
The AskHistorians booklist also has a section on modern Russia that might interest you.