This book first published in 1978 provides a broad and comprehensive view of the Soviet book publishing industry based on extensive use of Soviet sources and on visits and interviews conducted in the Soviet Union. Book publishing is examined both as a manufacturing and distributing industry enmeshed in the machinery of central planning, and as a disseminator of ideas influenced and controlled by the organs of government, the Communist Party and the censorship. A 'policy approach' is used to study the operations and management of the vast Soviet publishing industry, examining the complex pressures which affect its administration and the impact those pressures have on books published in the USSR. The powers of the Communist Party, government ministries and the censorship over the publishing houses are analysed. The perspective of the book is wide enough to take in questions about the place of the author in the publishing process and the role played by printing and book-selling. Attention is paid to the special problems in publishing different types of books: fiction, textbooks, scientific works, mass political literature and so on.