"The book is an exceptional achievement in every respect: it offers a calm, detached, factual and well balanced socio-historical analysis of the MfS (Ministry for Security) that covers all aspects." - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

" This book] provides an excellent introduction to the chronology, structure, and activities of the MfS." - Kritika. Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History

"This is an excellent book, full of careful, balanced judgements and a wealth of concisely-communicated knowledge. It is also well written. Indeed, it is the best book yet published on the...

This book takes stock of opinion polls in communist and post-communist states, presents specific case studies and answers the question how opinion polls under conditions of censorship and lack of media pluralism differ from those in liberal democratic societies. These polls were mostly used by the ruling establishment to observe shifts in popular opinion and to anticipate protests. They were hardly presented publicly to inform citizens about the prevailing views in their society. Today, these polls often display stories about everyday life, opinion shifts and the legitimacy of state...

Drawing from perspectives from within the everyday life of basic organizations and the practices of the party apparatuses, Communist Parties Revisited sheds light on the inner workings the Eastern Bloc, and the effects of state socialist policy on a micro historical level.