Hello. I want to learn about communism and its history. I have heard about Marx and Stalin, but that's about it and i even know little about them. I was hoping to find a book/books that can help me understand communism more AND the history of communist countries (most interested in Soviet). I have no problem with large books, but since i don't know much about communism i would like books that explain, and don't expect me to already know stuff.
Sorry if this does not belong here mods.
Archie Brown's The Rise and Fall of Communism is a great introduction and overview of global communism. It's also a really good read. Another good one is David Priestland's The Red Flag: A History of Communism.
Edit: Also, I want to add that two often recommended authors that I would stay away from are Richard Pipes and Robert Service.
I have seen Archie Brown being mentioned as a great introduction, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Once you get a little more knowledgeable with the introductory books, I would suggest you start reading Eric Hobsbawm, who is an utterly amazing historian who writes in an engaging, informative, and extremely clear way. Here are some relevant books on Marxism by him:
Isiah Berlin's bio of Marx is also worth a read.
In addition to what the others said, if you want to read some communist theory itself, I'd recommend reading some of the texts on marxists.org from Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, Trotsky, Stalin and Mao. All of them contributed hugely to Marxism as a science.