The historiography of communism

Introduction: Communism, society, and history -- History and history's problem -- Issues in the historiography of communism, part one : identifying the problem -- Issues in the historiography of communism, part two : some principles of critical analysis -- Ideology and the metaphysics of content -- "Society against the state" : the fullness of the primitive -- Left futures (with Randy Martin) -- Rethinking the crisis of socialism (with Randy Martin)

In this fresh appraisal of communism and anti-communism, with an emphasis on the American case, respected scholar Michael E. Brown examines the methods, controversies and difficulties involved in writing the history of communism. Arguing that one important way of understanding communism—other than as a concrete political or ideological force—is as an expression of an essentially reflexive aspect of society that typically manifests itself in social movements. In this regard, Brown understands the history of communism as part of the history of society. Examining works by E. P. Thomps