Red Cavalry

Type: Book

As of November 2026, Red Cavalry has been mentioned in one podcast episode on The Ezra Klein Show (Feb 2026). George Saunders recommended it: Recommended by George Saunders for its chaotic and understated narrative.

Red Cavalry or Konarmiya is a collection of short stories by Russian author Isaac Babel about the 1st Cavalry Army. The stories take place during the Polish–Soviet War and are based on Babel's diary, which he maintained when he was a journalist assigned to the Semyon Budyonny's First Cavalry Army. First published in the 1920s, the book was one of the Russian people's first literary exposures to the dark, bitter reality of the war. During the 1920s, writers of fiction were given a relatively good