David Priestland makes every page pop with communist splendor.

I can't get enough of David Priestland's history of communism. From the rise (and splat) of the Lenin suit, Neruda's reluctant communism, the fashioning of Soviet patriotism, the communist verdict on consumerism, nomenklatura, nomenbratura, and everything in between, Priestland is eminently readable and, as of this moment, readable for free online via Google books.