John Bulaitis is Senior Lecturer in History at the Canterbury Christ Church University. He specialises in the history of twentieth-century France and is the author of Communism in Rural France (I.B.Tauris).
The author succeeds in subtly conveying, in an admirably readable fashion, the tortuous twists and turns of Comintern policy and their execution by its French section, from 'Class Against Class' to the Popular Front to the trauma of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the apogee of the Liberation, the last days of Stalinism and beyond. * European History Quarterly * In a classical and limpid form, John Bulaitis' biography perfectly renders Thorez's role and importance. * French History * John Bulaitis has written what will almost certainly be the definitive biography of Maurice Thorez in English ... His use of published sources and archive material is impeccable and well referenced. * H-France * Overall, Bulaitis has done a fine job of unpicking the threads of Thorez's life ... [a] fascinating study. * Labour History Review *