Product Description: This book focuses on the forces of social change and what they have meant in the lives of the people caught in the middle of them from medieval times through our current era of globalization.

Enhanced with photos, maps, and chronology of events, a comprehensive review of the history, culture, and traditions of the people of this diverse region throughout thousands of years examines the different countries and their positions, economically and militarily, in the world today.

A detailed history of each of the nine countries in central and Eastern Europe provides full-color maps, a chronology of events for each country, and an encyclopedia of current personalities and significant places; and includes the flags of each nation.

Examines the often rocky course of communism in China in an exploration of the sacrifices and gains it has brought to the people and the society that resulted.

An illustrated history of the ideological conflict between the Communist bloc and Western democracies covers the personalities involved, surrogate wars, covert actions, nuclear threat, and the factors that brought the Cold War to an end.

Details the historical development of Marxism--from the initial theories of Karl Marx, through its rise in the Soviet Union, to its recent collapse--and explains pre-Marxist socialism, basic Marxist principles, and variations of these theories.