Now updated with new facts, and abridged for use in Soviet history courses, this gripping book assembles top secret Soviet documents, translated into English, from the era of Stalin's purges. The dossiers, police reports, private letters, secret transcripts, and other documents expose the hidden inner workings of the Communist Party and the dark inhumanity of the purge process.

J. Arch Getty is professor of modern Russian history at the University of California, Los Angeles. Oleg V. Naumov is director of the Moscow archive RGASPI.

"'This book will be of great value to students of the Terror and... the material, such as Bukharin's last letter, is astounding.' Michael J. Ybarra, Wall Street Journal 'It will be indispensable for all historians and researchers of communism, the USSR, and Stalinism for many decades to come.' Roy A. Medvedev, author of Let History Judge"