The Routledge History of Communism offers a panoramic view of how our ways of studying Communism have changed radically since the 1990s, recognizing the more recent changes in our ways of studying it and asking new kinds of questions.

Communist ideas inspired revolutions, shaped governments and guided the lives of millions of people all around the world throughout the twentieth century. Global in scope and covering a long time period, ranging from Communism’s intellectual beginnings to its contemporary legacies, the volume features the work of a diverse group of contributors trained in a wide variety of national contexts as well as in the use of transnational and comparative approaches.

Within this broad canvas, The Routledge History of Communism focuses on how politics interacted with individual experience. The book examines how politics played out inside the factory, the village, the family, or the school. It highlights the different ways Communism shaped the lives of ordinary people all over the world and the ways in which ordinary people shaped Communist movements and states. The authors’ focus on everyday communism allows them to highlight the centrality of race, gender, sexuality, and other identities to understandings of Communism’s appeal, its successes, and its failures.

The book will be of interest to students of Global History, Modern History, and Cultural Studies, as well as undergraduate instructors seeking a modern analysis of Communism.