Why read To Overthrow the World?

Book cover of To Overthrow the World

Book description

From an award-winning historian, a new global history of Communism

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, the world was certain that Communism was dead. Today, three decades later, it is clear that it was not. While Russia may no longer be Communist, Communism and sympathy for Communist ideas have proliferated…

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European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked To Overthrow the World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Vernon L. Pedersen

Author

All right, this is not a book on American Communism, but you need to see the big picture. I have read every book that tries to explain the history of world communism, and this is the best I have encountered.

I like this book because it is not a triumphal account of the fall of communism but a genuine attempt to understand the movement’s appeal to millions of people. Another strength is that the book does not end with the fall of the Soviet Union but with the robust survival of communism in China.

From Vernon's list on The best books on (mostly) American communism.