R. W. Davies is Emeritus Professor of Soviet Economic Studies, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, UK - of which he was the foundation director. He is the author of many books and articles on Soviet history, including Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khruschev, Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution, and the previous five volumes in this series. Oleg V. Khlevniuk is Senior Research Fellow at State Archive of the Russian Federation, and Leading Research Fellow at the International Center for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. He is the author of The History of the GULAG: From Collectivization to the Great Terror (2004), and Master of the House: Stalin and His Inner Circle (2008). Stephen Wheatcroft is Professor in Soviet History at Nazarbayev University, Republic of Kazakhstan, and a specialist on Soviet agriculture and population. He is the editor of Challenging Traditional Views of Russian History (2002) and joint author with R. W. Davies of The Years of Hunger.