"The story starts with the euphoria of liberation in 1945 and the prospects offered by socialists and communists for an end to the old order. Then, as the Cold War grew in intensity, the authors examine how Stalin imposed his own version of social and economic development on every country in Eastern Europe (except Yugoslavia) through a policy of trials, terror, and centralised planning. With Stalin's death in 1953 and denunciation in 1956, the book guides us through the attempts first to reform communism, then overthrow it, and finally to struggle free of its ghosts."--Jacket.