A vital component of the mission of the American Research Center in Sofia is to make Bulgarian language scholarship both more widely known throughout western Europe and North America and more accessible to audiences that do not read Bulgarian. The North American distributor for publications of the American Research Center in Sofia is the David Brown Book Company; and, in the UK/Europe, Oxbow Books. Please visit www.oxbowbooks.com for purchasing information.

Two monographs have appeared to date:

Communism versus Democracy, Bulgaria 1944-1997, is an English language translation and reedition of N. Kralevska-Owens prize-winning study, Untitled: Destroyers and Builders of Bulgaria. Professor Mark Kramer, Harvard University, contributes an introduction to the volume. Praise for the volume:

• 'This is an original and compelling study of communism and especially the formative years of post-communism in Bulgaria...Perhaps the most original argument in the book is the similarly powerful impact of external actors and precedents on the transitions to both communism and post-communism'. Professor Valerie Jane Bunce, Cornell University

• '...the most unique and authoritative documentary about two revolutionary decades in the country's history: the establishment of the communist regime in the 1940s and the struggling democratic movement of the 1990s. Well-reasoned and powerfully written, it is an important case study about communism, post-communism, and democratization in contemporary Bulgaria'. Peter Stoyanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria, 1997-2002

State and Church: Studies in Medieval Bulgaria and Byzantium, edited by V. Gyuzelev and K. Petkov, is an English translation of 13 essays composed by leading Bulgarian historians. Praise for the volume:

• 'Medieval Bulgaria and Byzantium maintained close and complex relations throughout the centuries. Studies on medieval Bulgaria, the medieval Bulgarians and the medieval Bulgarian lands and therefore of great interest to the Byzantinist and the medievalist alike. This collected volume of articles dealing predominantly with politics, culture, and religion, showcases research that has recently been produced by leading scholars in Bulgaria'. Professor Dimiter Angelov, Birmingham University

• 'Clear and accessible, this volume highlights the contributions of leading Bulgarian medievalists interested in Byzantine studies, and offers a fresh look into new methodologies, concerns with historiography, dress symbolism, monastic life and the cult of the saints, as well as the perception and understanding of the Other...this book will be essential reading for all scholars interested in medieval Bulgaria and its relations with Byzantium'. Professor Florin Curta, University of Florida

Two additional publication projects are in preparation: a second volume of Bulgarian essays on medieval and byzantine history and culture translated into English; and an English translation of Dr. Elena Kostova's revised doctoral dissertation Melnik during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Problems of Political and Socio-Economic History. Dr. Kostova's dissertation was selected by an international jury of medievalists as the winner of the inaugural ARCS competition to select, translate into English, and publish (after revision) an outstanding recent Bulgarian PhD in the field of medieval history.