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`It is detailed and thorough; it adjusts its treatment to emphasise highlights such as the Hungarian uprising, the Prague Spring and the Solidarity triumph and to make useful comparisons between them.' - Professor W.V. Wallace, Europe-Asia Studies `What was communism in Eastern Europe all about? Fowkes' book is a good place to look for some answers. In ten concise chapters he guides us across the geographic and political landscape of post-World War II Eastern Europe ...There is enough detail to prove helpful to both generalists and specialists.' - Professor B.P. Menard, Millennium Journal of International Studies ; Communist parties came to power in a variety of ways, usually by force, often with the acquiescence of people who hoped for a better future. Then came the imposition of Stalinism. Ben Fowkes' book examines all this, and subsequent crises in Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Declining communist morale, rising dissent, economic failure and the changing role of the Soviet Union are given their due place. Finally the mechanism of the collapse of communism in 1989 is laid bare. The present paperback edition includes some new material on Yugoslavia and an introduction outlining the main developments in Eastern Europe over the past five years.