Customer Reviews
This is history? - By: Lark, 28 Sep 2008 
This book receives two stars for having a good contents, index & references for further reading & ease of access for students or readers wishing to make a quick reference.
It is a history of communism from an anti-communist author, as other reviewers have indicated, however thatin itself is not what makes this such a poor, poor book. There are excellent examples of historical writing by authors who are not necessarily sympathetic towards their subject matter, such as Anthony Beevor's books on Stalingrad, Berlin or The Spanish Civil War (AKA The Struggle for Spain).
From the outset I had a strong sense that it would be possible to read the introduction & concluding chapter "Accounting for Communism" & still have a clear idea of the bookin its entirety. It is an excellent summation of the authors opinion & that's what this book is, thinly veiled opinion.
The scope of the book is collossal, incorporating a great number of different ideological, cultural, ethnic, national & economic/developmental contexts & honestly I dont believe that it could all be dealt within such a short, single volume.
In the concluding chapter "Accounting for Communism" Service does an incredibly disappointing number, suggesting that communism was purely & simply a vehicle for authoritarian personalities, cultures & psyches who are now instead finding a homein radical sectarianismin the form of islamic terror.
This is clearlyin keeping with the ideology of libertarina & classical economists such as Hayek but for a historian is a travesty, it is infact a vindication of sinister right wing thinking of the kind behind fascism that through a "triumph of the will" leaders can assure their ascendency & put their personal stamp upon history.
There are good, considered & political analysis of the emergence of communismin different contexts & the role of authoritarian culture or at least the lack of democratic or liberal culture & norms,in both China, Russia & elsewhere. However this is not it & some of them, for instance Eric Fromm & Theodore Ardono are socialists who I suspect would be considered as one of a kind with Stalin et al.
Save your money & by Gulag Archepelago instead.
Biased - By: P. Duval, 20 Jul 2008 I was really looking forward to 'Comrades' arriving but after reading the introduction was already beginning to feel a little disappointed. Robert Service is clearly a very intelligent man who has trawled through miles of archives. Unfortunately he cannot hide the fact that he is rabidly anti-Communist. He makes too many childish remarks about the most prominent leaders & even the colour printsin the centre of the book are accompanied by petty jibes. We know that life under Communism was never the utopia it had hoped to be & thatin many Communist states life was truly a nightmare of terror & repression. Unfortunately because of Service's style & commentary I get no sense of how much of the suffering came to be. It is too simplistic to claim that Communism was intrisically bad when it's stated aim was to build a human paradise. We must understand why it went so wrong. This book does not tell us that. Really disappointing.
Rubbish when it's not on Russia - By: Historian, 18 Jun 2008 
This is an awful book. It is very poorly written & dull to read. It's obvious that the author (an expert on Russia) knows very little about Eastern Europe, China, Africa, Cuba, or anywhere else with a Communist movement. Many of his generalizations (and the book is little else) are regurgitated from the literature of 30 years ago. There is nothing newin this book. It has no insights - even on the Soviet Union - to make it worth the bother of ploughing through its dreadful prose.
The People's Book is deepest red - By: Ian David Curry, 17 Jul 2007 
For those historians who like to think big, & take the brave decision to write a book which tackles a very large concept, a long period of time or controversial idea, it is difficult not to fallin to a trap of excessive simplicity or letting the bigger picture slip away amidst a barrage of details. Few subjects are as complex, debatable or relevant as communism, & this is the story of an ideology that changed the world.
It is also a subject on which it is impossible to be neutral. Communism as a monstrous ideology which led to more deaths than Facism, a brutal system implemented by thuggish dictators? Or a utopian idea whose time was not right, or that was implementedin the wrong places? A brave attempt at challenging age old iniquities, or an concept with a foolish disregard for human weaknesses. With thisin mind it is important to note that Robert Service does have a bias, but that all historians do, & he does his job as an academic historian well with a thorough grasp of the sources available.
Some have commented that Service does not come across as a fan of communism. To be fair this might be true, but then given the raft of evidence at hand of the excessesin the Soviet system this is unsurprising. What is more important is that as far as possible Service approaches the subject dispassionately & does not become a slave to an ideological dogma. Instead he is thoroughin his research, & lets the evidence speak for itself.
Unsurprisingly he is an expertin the history of Russia, a fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford & was one of the first historians to gain access to the Soviet archives after the collapse of the USSR. Having written biographies on Lenin, Stalin & working on the end of this literary triptych with Trotsky, he has broadened his subject out to the ideology that most affected modern Russia, & looks at its historical roots, & its global impact.
Service is stronger when talking about Russia & Europe, with a wealth of experience & knowledge quite evident. But he is more than able when dealing with communism's impact around the world. He is not limited to a specific time period, & deals with the pre-19th century roots (albeitin a slight gallop - this is only a single volume) & the present day.
Service might be an academic historian, but he also has a flair for writing. He has an engaging & natural style, & an excitement & interestin the subject which leaps from the page. Russian history is well served by excellent writers, Orlando Figes, Richard Pipes & Simon Sebag Montefiore included, but Service now deserves a much higher profile amongst this quartet.
The only criticism is that it is a subject so vast as to be necessarily done a disservice by a single volume. But as a primer or introductory text, or as a very readable piece of history, it is excellent.
Again, weaknesses of Amazon's star system prevent giving a more accurate 4.5 stars. But it seemed harsh to drop down to a 4 for a really rather excellent book.
