Overview

In this collection, world-renowned scholars of Bolshevism and world communism analyze the human costs of the Bolshevik Revolution, its contribution to the spread of totalitarianism, and the responses it inspired among American and Western intellectuals. Together, their essays constitute a profound refusal of the poesy of totalitarianism that is based on sober research and detailed analysis of the limits of utopian politics and the dangers of cruel ideologies based in the cosmetic aesthetic of moral perfectionism and lyric intoxication. This study provides an accurate and succinct depiction of the nature of Bolshevism and its consequences in light of several decades of research, including former Soviet archival materials and American intelligence such as the Venona files.

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9781793605337

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These essays, by three of the most distinguished interpreters of communism in the Western world, are a timely reminder of the price millions of people around the globe paid when communist illusions and delusions resulted in the establishment of totalitarian societies. In an era when those lessons are being forgotten, it is essential that we never forget the lives lost and the societies deformed by the embrace of communism by many people who should have known better. -- Harvey Klehr, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Politics and History, Emory University

Author Information

Alexander Riley is professor of sociology at Bucknell University. Alfred Kentigern Siewers is associate professor of English at Bucknell University.

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