Reds: A Global History of Communism
Paul Mason
Oct 2026 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Paul Mason
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18 hr 43 min
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“Surprising and provocative…this book is so well-timed. And so valuable.” —The Spectator (UK)
From “possibly the most engaged mainstream journalist of our age” (The New Statesman, UK) comes a new global history of communism—ranging from Renaissance England to 21st-century China and tracing communism’s transformation from a political idea, into a mass movement, and ultimately into totalitarian regimes that covered half the earth.
In Reds, journalist and historian Paul Mason equips a new generation with an understanding of where communism came from and how and why it failed. Charting its ascension and decline, from the first barricades in Paris in the 1840s to the fall of the Berlin Wall, he shows how communism changed from a Utopian critique of early capitalism into a revolutionary movement that inflicted existential defeats on the autocracies of Russia, China, and their satellites. Mason’s story of communism is one of both heroism and horror: of workers and peasant activists fighting against an old regime that exploited them, and of the repression and famines inflicted by the regimes that were eventually installed.
With liberal capitalism appearing to falter, global climate chaos intensifying, and advances by the far right in Western democracies, communist ideas might appear increasingly attractive to people around the world. Timely and erudite, Reds is a warning against the resurgence of an authoritarian left, and a plea for a progressive resistance to capitalism based on universal human values.
From “possibly the most engaged mainstream journalist of our age” (The New Statesman, UK) comes a new global history of communism—ranging from Renaissance England to 21st-century China and tracing communism’s transformation from a political idea, into a mass movement, and ultimately into totalitarian regimes that covered half the earth.
In Reds, journalist and historian Paul Mason equips a new generation with an understanding of where communism came from and how and why it failed. Charting its ascension and decline, from the first barricades in Paris in the 1840s to the fall of the Berlin Wall, he shows how communism changed from a Utopian critique of early capitalism into a revolutionary movement that inflicted existential defeats on the autocracies of Russia, China, and their satellites. Mason’s story of communism is one of both heroism and horror: of workers and peasant activists fighting against an old regime that exploited them, and of the repression and famines inflicted by the regimes that were eventually installed.
With liberal capitalism appearing to falter, global climate chaos intensifying, and advances by the far right in Western democracies, communist ideas might appear increasingly attractive to people around the world. Timely and erudite, Reds is a warning against the resurgence of an authoritarian left, and a plea for a progressive resistance to capitalism based on universal human values.
“Surprising and provocative…this book is so well-timed. And so valuable.” —The Spectator (UK)
From “possibly the most engaged mainstream journalist of our age” (The New Statesman, UK) comes a new global history of communism—ranging from Renaissance England to 21st-century China and tracing commu...
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About the author
Paul Mason is an award-winning journalist and labor movement activist living in London. Previously the economics editor at both BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News, he is now a columnist at The New World and is adjunct fellow at the Council on Geostrategy. He is the author of seven books, including PostCapitalism, Rare Earth, and How to Stop Fascism.
Paul Mason is an award-winning journalist and labor movement activist living in London. Previously the economics editor at both BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News, he is now a columnist at The New World and is adjunct fellow at the Council on Geostrategy. He is the author of seven books, including ...
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