Provides encyclopedic coverage of communism and its impact throughout the world in the 20th century. This book explains what communism was, the forms it took, and the enormous role it played in world history from the Russian Revolution through the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond.

"This important work helps bridge the gap between specialists' knowledge about communism and the general public's understanding--a gap that has only widened since the revolutions of 1989-1991. The dictionary's entries are informative and reasonable, everything one wants in a work such as this."--Eric D. Weitz, University of Minnesota

"A valuable and comprehensive research asset that provides a useful place for students to start their investigations. Among the articles are some masterful reviews by major scholars."--Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan

"[A] monumental, engrossing, truly comprehensive encyclopaedia of world communism."---Vladimir Tismaneanu, International Affairs