Esteemed for his pursuit of historical enquiry which went "against the grain" of commonly accepted views of communism in power, significantly, Swain also explored the strength or coherence of some of the alternatives that emerged to the paths actually taken, themes which, in their own way, run through this collection of essays, featuring contributions predominantly from papers delivered at the 7th CRCEES Research Forum in July 2015. Honoring the critical tradition and at times contentious work of Geoffrey Swain, this volume comprises seven original articles offering alternative insights into the complexities of Russian, Yugoslav and Latvian history, which are complemented by three essays reviewing his work, it’s context and implications. This book was originally published as a special issue of .