Superb...a hugely readable book

At its peak, communism controlled one third of the human race...Brown's scholarly, well-paced and critical overview contributes brilliantly to a reasoned reassessment

To understand one of the central stories of the 20th century - read Brown's book

The breadth of his scholarship and research is hugely impressive... Brown offers clever insights, as well as some fascinating new revelations

This book is the crowning achievement of Archie Brown's career... This volume will remain a definitive study of communism... Thank you, Archie Brown

Comprehensive and impressive

Archie Brown tells the history of these 70-odd years...with poise, a sense of balance and a judicious understanding of the differences between the varieties of communisms

A clear and expert account of the rise and fall of communism

A stimulating read, which provides valuable insights

His conclusions neatly balance the equally pertinent questions of why Communist systems collapse, and why they lasted so long

One of Britain's leading experts on communism provides a grimly humorous and richly anecdotal study

Scholarly, well-paced and critical...few can match him for insider knowledge

Balanced, insightful, illuminated by intriguing detail and flashes of humour, this worldwide panorama is a miracle of compression

This superb book gives the history of the ideology and the reasons for its decline

It reads like Sovietology rendered by John le Carré

The book is well written with flashes of mordant humour and sufficient records of personal foibles and institutional stupidity to keep the reader going through some dreadful moments of human history