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(Cambridge, Mass., 1995). J. T. Gross, “Social consequences of war: preliminaries to the study of imposition of communist regimes in east central Europe,” East European Politics and Society , 3: 2 (spring 1989), pp. 198–214 argues that wartime social change influenced the imposition of Soviet rule in the region. See too, K. Kersten, The Establishment of Communist Rule in Poland, 1943–1948 (Berkeley, Calif., 1991). H. Seton-Watson, The East European Revolution (1951), R. R. Betts (ed.), Central and South-East Europe, 1945–1948 (1950), and R. J. Wolff, The Balkans in Our Time all remain useful, as does R. V. Burks, The Dynamics of Communism in Eastern Europe (Princeton, NJ, 1961). M. McCauley (ed.), Communist Power in Europe, 1944–1949 (1977), remains a useful survey. V. Mastny, Russia’s Road to the Cold War (1979), is a fine example of Western scholarshipon Soviet foreign policy before the Russian archives were opened up; V. Zubok, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War (1995), gives a taste of the rethinking to come. Case studies include C. Gati, Hungary and the Soviet Bloc (Durham, 1986), and P. Zinner, Revolution in Hungary (1962); J. Korbel, The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia, 1938–1948 (Princeton, NJ, 1959), and M. Myant, Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia, 1945–1948 (Cambridge, 1981).
    C. Milosz, The Captive Mind (1953), is unsurpassed as an analysis of the ethical dilemmas posed by communism. F. Fejtö, A History of the People’s Democracies (1974), is the best introduction. Among the many insider accounts which blend personal experience and political reflection one should mention Z. Mlynar, Night Frost in Prague (1980), on the difficulties of reform, A. Oras, Baltic Eclipse (1948), on the plight of the Baltic states, B. Szasz, Volunteers for the Gallows (1971), on the frenzy of the purges, and M. Djilas, The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System (1958), for the corruption of the new regime. F. J. Kase, People’s Democracy (Leyden, 1968), shows how the ambiguities of communist constitutional theory shed light on the uncertainties of Stalin’s foreign policy for the region. For social change, there is S. Fischer-Galati (ed.), Eastern Europe in the Sixties (New York, 1963), W. Vucinich (ed.), Contemporary Yugoslavia (Berkeley, Calif., 1969), and P. Neuburg, The Hero’s Children: the Postwar Generation in Eastern Europe (1972). A. Aman, Architecture and Ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin Era (New York, 1992), is a well-illustrated study. D. Deletant, Ceauşescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965–1989 (1995), demonstrates how much more comprehensive post-war communist surveillance systems were than pre-war fascist and authoritarian ones. The Baltic states under communism are surveyed in R. Misiunas and R. Taagepera, The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940–1990 (Berkeley, Calif., 1993); opposition there is covered in T. Remeikis, Opposition to Soviet Rule in Lithuania, 1945–1980 (Chicago, 1980). P. Kecskemeti, The Unexpected Revolution: Social Forces in the Hungarian Uprising (Stanford, Calif., 1961), is a masterly study of the most serious revolt against Soviet rule.
    Until very recently historians have mostly left the subject of postwar western Europe to social scientists. It is still hard to see this as a period of history rather than as a series of contemporary social, politicaland economic issues. The readings cited below necessarily reflect this problem. General treatments include W. Laqueur, Europe in Our Time, 1945–1992 (New York, 1992), and M. Crouzet’s still excellent The European Renaissance since 1945 (1970). P. Ginsborg, A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943–1988 (1990), is a model country study. It is difficult to think of anything quite as comprehensive for another west European country, though Stanley Hoffmann’s writings on France and Ralf Dahrendorf’s on West Germany are indispensable. G.