Communism

Discusses the development of communism, surveys the Russian and Chinese Revolutions and the Cold War, recounts the fall of European Communist governments and conditions in post-Communist countries, and profiles leading figures.

Grade 7-9-Although the ideological struggles between communism and capitalism consumed most of the 20th century, these books fail to provide an adequate introduction to either system or explain why the conflicts developed. They suffer from their brevity, which results in coverage of entire eras in only a few pages, and a lack of background information, which results in people and events making brief appearances without sufficient introduction or explanation. Both titles use vocabulary that is too advanced for the intended audience. The layout is also poor, with pages so crowded with illustrations, sidebars, and quotes that it is difficult to follow the narratives. Since most of this material can be found in either books about specific eras or in histories of the hostile relationship between communist and capitalist societies, such as James Warren's Cold War: The American Crusade against World Communism, 1945-1991 (Lothrop, 1996), these titles are poor choices for most libraries.
Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reviewed with R. G. Grant's Capitalism.

Gr. 6-8. The Ideas of the Modern World series offers introductions to political and economic concepts. Capitalism identifies the characteristics of "pre-capitalist societies," then traces the rise of the capitalist system from the Industrial Revolution to the present. Communism defines the main concept, describes the French Revolution and Marxian theory as precursors to its twentieth-century evolution, and follows the development of communist political systems in Russia and China. Each book ends with a chronology, a glossary, and a list of resources. Many color and black-and-white illustrations, including photos, engravings, paintings, and maps, appear throughout the books, along with colorful sidebars offering short biographical, philosophical, and historical additions to the main topic. Although the format helps make these books accessible to a middle-school audience, the vocabularies and sentence structures will challenge many readers at that level, and the writing would have benefited from closer editing. Since few books for young people are available on topics in economics and politics, however, this series may prove useful in school and public libraries. Carolyn Phelan
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