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The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Edward E. Ericson Jr. (Introduction)

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 6,245 ratings · 300 reviews

Drawing on his own incarceration and exile, as well as on evidence from more than 200 fellow prisoners and Soviet archives, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn reveals the entire apparatus of Soviet repression -- the state within the state that ruled all-powerfully.Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims -- men, women, and children -- we encounter secret police operatio...more

Paperback, 512 pages

Published February 1st 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published 1958)

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Jul 01, 2009 Pandasurya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiksi, koleksi-langka-sepertinya, punya, favorit

Judul Buku : Gulag (The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956)
Penulis: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Penerjemah: Akhmad Susanto
Penyunting : M. Mushthafa
Penerbit : Bentang, Yogyakarta
Oktober, 2004, xxvii+630 halaman

Menguak Kamp Maut di Rusia

“Tuhan selalu tahu penderitaan di muka bumi,
tapi Dia belum pernah merasakannya” (Anatoly V. Silin, penyair Rusia)

Sejarah tak pernah bisa ditulis dengan kata “seandainya”. Lebih dari 60 tahun yang lalu sekiranya dunia tak hanya membuka mata terhadap kekejaman Nazi Jerman, m...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ htgkvkkviholmvobsvzighxofyyzmw rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-want-to-tell-you, things-we-said-today, strawberry-fields-forever, i-me-mine

Apa yang harus saya ceritakan tentang buku ini? Tak ada--atau lebih tepatnya tak bisa. Buku ini harus dibaca sendiri.

Nyaris tak ada buku yang bisa menyajikan teror semenggelisahkan buku ini. Banyak orang yang tersedu-sedan saat membaca buku tentang kekejaman holocaust seperti di buku Diary of Anne Frank atau Night. Tapi kalau mereka sudah membaca buku ini, mereka akan menangis guling-guling.

Bercerita tentang kengerian kamp konsentrasi buat para "si penjahat malang" (baca: siapapun yang dianggap...more Apa yang harus saya ceritakan tentang buku ini? Tak ada--atau lebih tepatnya tak bisa. Buku ini harus dibaca sendiri.

Nyaris tak ada buku yang bisa menyajikan teror semenggelisahkan buku ini. Banyak orang yang tersedu-sedan saat membaca buku tentang kekejaman holocaust seperti di buku Diary of Anne Frank atau Night. Tapi kalau mereka sudah membaca buku ini, mereka akan menangis guling-guling.

Bercerita tentang kengerian kamp konsentrasi buat para "si penjahat malang" (baca: siapapun yang dianggap menentang keinginan Si Kumis Besar a.k.a Stalin) yang bernama Gulag, buku ini sudah menimbulkan kengerian bahkan sejak halaman pertama. Gulag jauh lebih mengerikan daripada penjara manapun buatan manusia lainnya--bahkan Iblis pun tak mungkin bisa sekejam ini. Tak akan cukup kata di review ini buat menuliskan kengeriannya. Baca sendiri! Dan bersiaplah untuk mimpi buruk yang tak akan pernah berakhir.

Gulag merupakan versi neraka di bumi yang bahkan lebih kejam daripada neraka versi agama langit. Di neraka-Nya, penghuninya masih diberi makan berupa onak duri dan air nanah bercampur logam mendidih. Di Gulag, para tahanannya sama sekali tak diberi makan kecuali sisa sampah yang bahkan hewan paling putus asa pun tak akan mau memakannya.

Stalin telah membuat Hitler terlihat seperti bocah bengal 7 tahun yang hanya bisa melampiskan amarahnya dengan menyiksa kecoa malang.

Buku ini sama sekali bukan bacaan yang menyenangkan. Teror, nestapa, dan kebrutalan yang dihadirkannya akan menghilangkan selera makan, meremukredamkan perasaan, dan meluluhlantahkan pertahanan otot air mata. Buku ini akan menantang pembacanya dengan pertanyaan paling fundamental tentang aspek moral kemanusiaan: "Apakah manusia itu pada hakikatnya terlahir sebagai seorang yang baik? Atau malah jahat?" dan yang paling menohok, "mana yang lebih utama, menyebarkan derma kebaikan atau mencegah angkara kejahatan? Mengapa kita lebih mudah melakukan kebaikan dengan gagah namun sering kali tak berdaya mencegah kejahatan yang tampak mudah dibantah?".

Ketika saya membaca buku Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu 1, saya merasa stress. Ketika membaca buku ini, saya merasa depresi. Dengan tema yang sama--memoar menyakitkan tentang perjuangan orang-orang yang bertahan dari penindasan rezim represif, Gulag menyajikan teror berkali-kali lipat tak berkesudahan sampai halaman terakhir dan akan terus mengendap di benak pembacanya selamanya...

PS: Tengkyu Panda atas pinjemannya. ditunggu pinjeman Nyanyi Sunyi 2-nya :P(less)

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Mar 12, 2007 Mikey rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everybody

Shelves: nonfiction

Given its historical importance, I fully expected that The Gulag Archipelago would be a lofty read. What I didn't expect was that it works so well as a story. Instead of being a straight history book, Gulag lies somewhere between journalism and history, and Solzhenitsyn's narrative voice is familiar and engaging. The book feels less like a history lesson, and more like a conversation with a good friend who knows how to put together and express an interesting, important, heartbreaking, and unforg...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Bettie added it

Shelves: autumn-2012, slavic, nonfiction, ouch, nobel-laureate, fraudio, epic-proportions, autobiography-memoir, boo-scary, bullies, execution, gangsters, holocaust-genocide, lifestyles-deathstyles, philosophy, politics, published-1958, racism, recreational-homicide, true-grime

blurb - The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's attempt to compile a literary-historical record of the vast system of prisons and labour camps that came into being shortly after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1917 and that underwent an enormous expansion during the rule of Stalin from 1924 to 1953. Various sections of the three volumes describe the arrest, interrogation, conviction, transportation, and imprisonment of the Gulag's victims by Soviet authorities over four decades. The wor...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Saikhnaa Ch rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Коммунизмын үеийн улс төрийн шорон Гулагийн тухай Нобелийн шагнал хүртсэн Александр Солженицыны бүтээл. Монгол орчуулга нь тэгтэл таалагдаагүй ч нэгт энэ бол уран гоёор бичсэн зохиол биш, хоёрт зохиолчийн хэлэх гэсэн санаа, гол агуулга нь ойлгомжтой байсан тул торсонгүй, уншаад дуусгачихлаа.
Энэ номыг уншаад хэдий би коммунизм, социализм барьж байгуулж байх үед амьдарч байгаагүй ч уншсан ном зохиолоосоо тэр үеийн хүмүүсийн талаар авсан мэдээлэл, төсөөлөл минь шал худлаа, жинхэнэ тархи угаасан ба...more Коммунизмын үеийн улс төрийн шорон Гулагийн тухай Нобелийн шагнал хүртсэн Александр Солженицыны бүтээл. Монгол орчуулга нь тэгтэл таалагдаагүй ч нэгт энэ бол уран гоёор бичсэн зохиол биш, хоёрт зохиолчийн хэлэх гэсэн санаа, гол агуулга нь ойлгомжтой байсан тул торсонгүй, уншаад дуусгачихлаа.
Энэ номыг уншаад хэдий би коммунизм, социализм барьж байгуулж байх үед амьдарч байгаагүй ч уншсан ном зохиолоосоо тэр үеийн хүмүүсийн талаар авсан мэдээлэл, төсөөлөл минь шал худлаа, жинхэнэ тархи угаасан байжээ гэдгийг ойлголоо. Хүмүүст ингэж ямар ч утгагүй ял оноож, өчнөөн жил сараар тарчлааж зовоон, бөөн бөөнөөр нь үхэл рүү нь илгээж байдаг...

Төрсөн хэсэг бусаг сэтгэгдлүүд:

Би коммунистуудыг үнэхээр л коммунист сайхан нийгэм байгуулах гэж зүтгэж байсан гэж боддог байснаа тун гэнэн бодол байжээ гэж ойлголоо.
Коммунизмын гэрэлт ирээдүйд Оросын хүн амын цөөнх л итгэж байсан бололтой
Тэр үед хүмүүс аймшигтай сэтгэл санааны, улс төрийн дарамтан дор амьдарч байсан.
Хүний тархийг угаах, түүхийг гуйвуулах ямар амархан юм бэ?
Хүн мэдлэг , мэдээллээрээ хаагдмал амьдрах юутай харамсалтай вэ?
ЗСБНХУ-д харьяалагдаж байсан бусад улсуудтай харьцуулахад Монголд ийм хардлага сэрдлэгэ, улс төрийн дарамт бага байсан байх. Эсвэл бас энэ талаар бидэнд мэдээлэл хомс болохоор бид мэдэхгүй байгаа юм болов уу...
Юутай ч энэ номыг уншаад маш гунигтай мэдрэмж, харамсал төрлөө. Зарим нэг хийрхүү хүмүүсээс болоод хүн төрөлхтөний зарим нэг хэсэг ийм харанхуй үеийг туулж өнгөрсөн нь харамсалтай, бас ингээд нэг мөр дуусчихсан нь азтай гэж бодлоо
http://saixan.blogspot.com/2013/02/bl...
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Nov 11, 2012 Mike Lester rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've worked at a lot of jobs over the course of my short life. Everything from bookstore clerk, supermarket stock room, painting designs on plates, script supervisor for a soap opera, picture framing, mortgage account manager, etc. Many of these jobs have brought me into contact with the public-at-large. I've heard a lot of complaints over the years--where's the fire roasted tomatoes?, what do you mean I can't get a refund without a receipt?, why don't you have the latest Eckhart Tolle book in?...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Fahad rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

أرخبيل الغولاغ

أهمية هذا الكتاب لا تخفف ثقله، فلذا لا أنصح بقراءته إلا للمهتمين بالحالة السوفييتية، حيث يركز هذا الكتاب على الجانب الحقوقي فيها، متناولاً بالتفصيل الموجات الاعتقالية، أساليب التحقيق، القانون السوفييتي الذي كان على أساسه يخون الناس ويزج بهم في الغولاغ الرهيب.

ستقرأ في هذا الكتاب ما يتجاوز خيالك من حالات ظلم، حيث كان يسجن كل من يبدي رأياً مخالفاً وربما يعدم، وحيث كان الناس يرسلون إلى المعتقلات لعشر سنوات بدون أي محاكمة، بل ويورد المؤلف حالات ذهب الناس فيها للمعتقلات لأنهم إما عادوا...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars

This will be a somewhat complex review because I am going to intertwine comments on Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago with the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

I'm reading The Gulag Archipelago right now and have just returned from a discussion of the dissolution of the Soviet Union conducted by five genuine experts: Former U.S. ambassadors and students of Soviet Affairs Tom Pickering, Mark Palmer and Arthur Hartman and veteran journalists Marvin Kalb and Ted Koppel.

Let...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Owen rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Gulag Archipelago was one of the most potent and touching books I have ever read. I laughed so I wouldn't cry. And on a roadway construction site at age 20, no less. I always list it any time someone asks for my favorite books, and it narrowly edges Homage to Catalonia for my favorite piece of non-fiction. It encompasses the absolute worst of human nature, the inconceivable tragedy of an intra-national genocide (for "security") on a greater scale than even the Holocaust, yet Solzhenitsyn is...more The Gulag Archipelago was one of the most potent and touching books I have ever read. I laughed so I wouldn't cry. And on a roadway construction site at age 20, no less. I always list it any time someone asks for my favorite books, and it narrowly edges Homage to Catalonia for my favorite piece of non-fiction. It encompasses the absolute worst of human nature, the inconceivable tragedy of an intra-national genocide (for "security") on a greater scale than even the Holocaust, yet Solzhenitsyn is never self-pitying or hesitant, and always funny. The sarcasm drips right through the decades and the translation; you never know whether to laugh or cry, because you desperately want to do both. Indeed, Solzhenitsyn's pity seems to be reserved for the monsters responsible, the interrogators who traded away their souls for faked confessions, police forced to meet their quotas of political prisoners block by block (literally), and the citizens who informed or fabricated information to save their lives and their family. Stalin is never a mastermind or genius- he is just a cruel thug with too much power. Solzhenitsyn stood against this all, wrote warmly and with great humanity. and, for his troubles, he was banished for twenty years, (after his original prison term, and subsequent masterpiece) It warms my heart that Solzhenitsyn lived a long life- I can think of few who deserved it more. God Bless him.

("Tenner" sentences usually ran to however long they wanted to keep you, which was pretty much when you worked yourself to death in the Siberian work camps. I recall Solzhenitsyn's sentence running to 17 years, but I read the book a while ago, I just read online it was 8, perhaps it was his pen pal, the one he got put away with. The two of them exchanged letters with (by his own admission) thinly-veiled references to Stalin. The letters were exchanged along the front lines, and all the mail was being read, of course, so they were sent to the Gulag. The concept of licking the frost off your prison door to stay alive since they didn't bother to feed you tells you all you need to know about the human will to survive)
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Jan 09, 2009 Adam Kranz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history

I just finished the first two volumes (all I have) of this seven-volume work. I was skeptical at first of what he could actually fill so many pages with, but as it turns out, he doesn't even reach the work camps, which are the final destination of the entire system, the place one carries out the 5, 10, or 25 years of one's sentence in the 615 pages of the first two volumes. We go over the laws on whose account one is arrested, the process of the arrest itself, the interrogation process, the pris...more I just finished the first two volumes (all I have) of this seven-volume work. I was skeptical at first of what he could actually fill so many pages with, but as it turns out, he doesn't even reach the work camps, which are the final destination of the entire system, the place one carries out the 5, 10, or 25 years of one's sentence in the 615 pages of the first two volumes. We go over the laws on whose account one is arrested, the process of the arrest itself, the interrogation process, the prison in which you live during the interrogation, the history of the waves of people arrested when and for what "reasons," the history of public trials in the USSR (reserved for big public figures - something the vast majority never experience), the conditions in the various means of transport from the interrogation prison to the work camps, the transit prisons one is held in along the way, and in part, the author's personal journey through all this.

Throughout all this, he writes very well, in a very thought-provoking manner, with a huge and intimate sense of Russian culture and history. He writes beautifully at points, trying to communicate to the reader the things one learns going through all this, the perspective one gains, and ideally showing them in part the absolute decadence and luxury in which they live, compared to the depths of prison life. He speaks of humanity on a fundamental level, treating questions of dignity, of cruelty, and the way perspective and experience form the world in which we live. He is almost appreciative of being sent to prison, in a way; he certainly does not view it as a waste, and explains the transformation that it effected on him, the humility and appreciation he learned from it.

Very quick, extremely informative and interesting, and good for plenty of thinking. Read it when you get around to it, all of you. It's something you will obviously only do when you get some time set aside for it. But it's definitely worthwhile, and deserves its reputation.(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 Roger DeBlanck rated it 5 of 5 stars

Solzhenitsyn’s timeless classic, first published in 1973, confronts the horrors of the Russian regime throughout the 20th century. He investigates how radical ideology drives the justification for evildoing: the elimination of dissidents as fundamental to establishing a purified society of loyalists. Even as he indicts the regime, he reflects upon the blurry line of good and evil that dwelled in his own heart and how he could have easily fallen in suit and become one of the executioners carrying...more

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May 14, 2008 Fiachna rated it 5 of 5 stars

A Harrowing account of the times in Russia under Stalin.. I had to attempt to read it twice not because of the penmanship but rather how desperately sad the book can be.
His literary ability to be able to recount such things without any bitterness and with such humour in places enabled me to struggle on and finish it.
Most definitely worth reading if even just to realise that things are not so different today...

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Feb 26, 2008 Don Daily rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: The terminally dull

My wife got me volume I when it was first published in English in the 1980s. I had struggled through 700 of the 1000 or so repetitive, boring pages when my wife surprised me with the 1200 page volume II. I thanked her and put them both away, never to look at them again. It would have to be a very very long cold winter before I'd make another attempt.

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Jul 25, 2011 Glyn Longden rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rating: 8/10. There is a reason why many of us don't read the assigned texts in university. When I was taking Russian history this book was 3 volumes and 1800 pages. This abridged version is just 472 pages but it is more than long enough to appreciate Solzhenitsyn's writing style. The story is familiar enough....Stalin purges the Soviet Union of intellectuals, kulaks, ethnic minorities, real or imagined political opposition; in fact, by the time he's finished probably 40 million citizens have lo...more

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Nov 23, 2009 Tianna rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was an amazing learning adventure through communistic prisons in Russia. Solzhenitsyn is very blunt and clear about what was happening, but that was the best part of the book, you got a great look into the historical meaning of things. The waves of political prisoners, and the tension between the different governmental "organs" as he liked to call them. He explains the interrogation and torture of innocent citizens, and with passion he asks why didn't they stand up for themselves? I kn...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Phillip Elliott rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the latest in a string of books I’ve read about the early years of Soviet communism. I continue to be dumb struck with the cruelty and inhumanity of Lenin and Stalin. I just can’t get my mind around how many millions Stalin killed. Between his purges, his Gulags and the starvation of the Ukraine he killed more innocent people than Hitler, yet the world chose to ignore his crimes and in this century there are those who still hold him up as an example of a great leader.

Solzhenitsyn catalo...more This is the latest in a string of books I’ve read about the early years of Soviet communism. I continue to be dumb struck with the cruelty and inhumanity of Lenin and Stalin. I just can’t get my mind around how many millions Stalin killed. Between his purges, his Gulags and the starvation of the Ukraine he killed more innocent people than Hitler, yet the world chose to ignore his crimes and in this century there are those who still hold him up as an example of a great leader.

Solzhenitsyn catalogs the gulag experience. He talks about how efficient the machine was in consuming human life in Russia. Even when the Soviets were about to lose WWII to the Germans he continued to kill and purge, destroy and starve his people. Cruelty without bounds in the name of an economic theory is outlined by Solzhenitsyn. Simply putting the day to day life of a “Polital” caught in the machine designed to chew them up and destroy them was his objective. I think he achieved this end. This is a powerful account of a man’s surviving a trip through hell in all of its vivid detail. Dante missed this level of hell.

There are no possible ends that could be perversely rationalized that would justify this cruelty. One would have a more simple time explaining the ethnic cleansing of the American Indians from the United States than you will justifying Lenin’s or Stalin’s purges and activities.

“The Gulag Archipelago” is an important literary work. This is a powerful part of world history and we are lucky that Solzhenitsyn risked his life to bring it to us. We are lucky that his friends were also willing to risk their lives to contribute to and to protect the work. Solzhenitsyn compiled stories of many of his fellow “58s” and he weaves those into what seems to give the reader a complete picture of Soviet Gulag History. Most importantly, Solzhenitsyn reminds us of what can happen when good people remain silent, when we allow tyrants to reign, when the citizens allow the government to run their lives.
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May 01, 2011 Brianna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-bought-used

Solzhenitsyn has a captivating point of view on the Stalin era prison camps, having experienced them firsthand. The book is basically an historical account of the imprisonment and execution of millions of (mostly) Soviet citizens, taken from the author's own experiences as well as hundreds of interviews with other eyewitnesses.

This book did take me almost four weeks to get through. I was incredibly invested in the first few chapters, but became bogged down with the human rights atrocities.

You c...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Honeywine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

The fact alone wrote this book under the conditions he faced himself with speaks volumes.
This book opened my eyes to the fact that the atrocities committed by the communist regime are not only equally as heinous, but probably worse than those committed under the nazi regime in 1930's germany; all of which is left out of our indoctrination, ahem, I mean educational system... why, because we were to eventually embrace the ideas of communism under the guise of Fabian socialism. We are to believe t...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Hedy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a story that was a must read for me as my own grandfather was miraculously survived eight years in a gulag - a very similar to what this author described. Not only was my family witness to the last days of Hitler when he removed over 444,000 Hungarian Jews, but the next horror was right around the corner with Stalin. Growing up in the U.S., it is difficult to truly understand how tragic life can be to some people. That said, I have had the opportunity to be behind the Iron Curtain and e...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Kw Estes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-best-of-them

Solzhenitsyn tells of the despicable circumstances that led many innocents to be interred under inhumane conditions in the Soviet Union (mainly under Stalin). He beautifully weaves 'political' and psychological theory into the work, trading off between recounting his personal experiences in GULAG with those tales that others told to him throughout the many years he spent poring over the subject. The work shows poignantly how very amoral it was for the world to stand by and let the Soviets do as...more

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May 11, 2012 Mad_Maudie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: russia

I thought I would never finish reading this because I had to keep stopping to think about what I read and keep trying to put things into some kind of perspective. How do people ever recover from such tragic experiences? I take my freedom and civil rights for granted, and I can't even begin to imagine living in a nation where free speech and individuality do not exist.

This was a compelling read, and I highly recommend it. Yes, it will require a time investment, but it's guaranteed to make you a...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Michael Gerald rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great piece of history as well as a fine piece of literary work, this mindblowing first-hand expose of the late, unlamented Soviet Union's crimes should be a must-read for every college student.

I dare say that this book should be read by every leftist who pretends to understand the world and knows the solution to its ills, real or alleged. Because unlike many from the left who pretend to espouse a mix of "nationalist" and leftist dogmas from the comfort of their homes or classrooms, Solzhenit...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Veeral rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, survival, русский-Автор, favorites, stalinism

One of my all time favorites.

One of the accounts from the book that still makes me laugh (you read that right, though I shouldn't really) is:

A political meeting was going on with about 1000 - 2000 people present in the hall somewhere in USSR (I can't recall the exact location and time of the event). Now the desiderata for survival in Stalin era was that everyone should stand up and clap their hands furiously at the mention of his name. Now, you don't want to be the one to stop clapping first. Th...more One of my all time favorites.

One of the accounts from the book that still makes me laugh (you read that right, though I shouldn't really) is:

A political meeting was going on with about 1000 - 2000 people present in the hall somewhere in USSR (I can't recall the exact location and time of the event). Now the desiderata for survival in Stalin era was that everyone should stand up and clap their hands furiously at the mention of his name. Now, you don't want to be the one to stop clapping first. This might suggest that you oppose Comrade Stalin (how dare you, O ye of feeble bourgeois mentality).

So, at this assembly someone inevitably mentioned Stalin's name. Right at that exact moment the whole congregation stood up and began to clap without forgetting to put a beaming stupid smile on their faces. Now you can't be sure that if Cheka agents are watching you at that moment or not. And moreover, you cannot stop clapping before your neighbor does, as he/she might inform on you. So this went on for 8 minutes (Now I tried clapping for 10 seconds myself and came to the conclusion that you clap twice in a second if you are doing it with gusto - fake or genuine). So they battered their hands together for at least 900 times.

Now the highest ranking local member of the Party at the meeting decided that this was getting ridiculous even by then Soviet Standards. He thought that 8 minutes of clapping and smiling was enough for showing their loyalty for a singular mention of Comrade Stalin's name. So he slowly stopped clapping and sat down. The congregation took no more than half a second to do likewise following his lead. Nobody spoke anything about the event in the concluding hours of the meeting. (But I am pretty much sure that everybody made certain that they didn't mention Stalin's name again for rest of the evening).

Next day, the Party member was arrested and never heard from again.

This book would have been comical if it would have been a work of fiction rather than non-fiction. But alas, that is not the case which makes it a sad sad collection of numerous accounts of human suffering under Soviet tyranny.
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Mar 29, 2013 Kris Herndon rated it 4 of 5 stars

I used to be a bit of a showoff about reading unabridged editions of things, but a friend happened to lend me the abridged version of this and I have to say, even the abridged version nearly broke me and I have no intention of going anywhere near the unabridged version! Yes, the Gulag Archipelago can be tough going at times. It's so detailed and awful and everything in it is true. I found "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch" (by the same writer and drawing on some of the same experiences) to...more

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Nov 12, 2011 Huw Evans rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: russian, history

After Ivan Denisovich i did my usual thinkg of becoming obsessive about Solzhenitsyn. The change of scale found in "Gulag" is mind blowing - going from one day to fifty years. This was the time of the Russian dissidents, samisdat and the initial rejection of the Soviet system by its own people. The idea that a country had an entire region that was effectively a prison camp, a dumping ground, where you could be sent for any perceived transgression was astounding to me, a pampered middle class tee...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Andy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, classics, biography, russia

Came to the Gulag late, by way of "The 900 Days" and "The Master and Margarita". I would recommend that anybody trying to read and understand either of those books (or anything else about the Soviet Union) should go to Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, to get a vivid, disturbing historical/personal survey of evil times in a society living in fear from 1920 on. He brings back to life countless Russians destroyed/disappeared by Lenin, Stalin, and their army of interrogator-prosecutors. In a way, t...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, biographic

This unabridged version of this book is a tomb. At times I skimmed sections, as I did not have any interest in the particulars of the current subject matter (Bolshevik judicial court processes circa 1917..), but the vast majority of this work really hit me. I had known very little about the Soviet labour camps and indeed, the full extent of Stalin's oppression on his own people. I'll be hesitant to complain about any wrongdoings of my own government after understanding what has occurred in recen...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Jared Della Rocca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Absolutely amazing thus far. It's a non-fiction work, but written as a narrative, as opposed to historical perspective. Thus Solzhenitsyn mixes in eyewitness accounts, as well as his own experiences, with the details, drawing the reader into the story. Instead of going from year-to-year, so far it's written more to follow Solzhenitsyn's progress through the gulag system. His chapter on "Bluecaps"--those working in the gulag system--is an amazing look at the nature of evil, and how man can commit...more Absolutely amazing thus far. It's a non-fiction work, but written as a narrative, as opposed to historical perspective. Thus Solzhenitsyn mixes in eyewitness accounts, as well as his own experiences, with the details, drawing the reader into the story. Instead of going from year-to-year, so far it's written more to follow Solzhenitsyn's progress through the gulag system. His chapter on "Bluecaps"--those working in the gulag system--is an amazing look at the nature of evil, and how man can commit such atrocities (akin to the Nazis). His main point is that we are unable to fully comprehend such evil, as all our classic literature deals with characters who are evil, but recognize the evil within themselves. For instance, Iago in "Othello" knows he is evil, and thus performs acts of evil to further that characteristic. Same for characters in Dickens novels. These characters are over-the-top in order to personify evil. Yet true evil in our world does not exhibit itself in such a way. Rather, those truly evil people in our world actually believe they are doing good. It's this fundamental swap of good for evil that allows these people to exist and still be "good family men."

Solzhenitsyn has experienced or witnessed the worst that man can do (so far), and allows the reader to view it through his eyes. This book isn't an inspirational story of man overcoming adversity, but rather a wide-eyed look at man living through atrocities. One of the first people to expose what was actually going on in the gulag system, it is much like the first accounts of what the Nazi concentration camps were really doing. Solzhenitsyn's work should be read in schools everywhere, so that we understand to what depths man can go, and not be blind when (and this is not an if, but a when--as it will happen again) we begin to hear rumors/stories of the next atrocity.
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Have finished the first of this three-volume set. The middle of the book dropped off a bit as Solzhenitsyn explores the law as both a "child" and as a "man"---e.g. the development of the Soviet "judicial" system. But the last third of the book, he returns to first-person experiences of the gulags, and that's where he is at his best. It's hard to remain tightly inspired by a book of 600-plus pages, but Solzhenitsyn certainly does his best to keep you there.(less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: non-fiction, biography, history, political, memoir, classics, crime, libertarian

Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago is a history of the Soviet Russian system of forced labor concentration camps from 1918 to 1956. The preface by Anne Applebaum says it destroyed the prestige of the Soviet Union and the belief that its version of communism, at least, had any moral legitimacy and as such this isn't just history--it made history. It originally circulated in 1974 underground from hand to hand in unbound typed manuscripts. The subtitle is "an experiment in literary investigation." So...more Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago is a history of the Soviet Russian system of forced labor concentration camps from 1918 to 1956. The preface by Anne Applebaum says it destroyed the prestige of the Soviet Union and the belief that its version of communism, at least, had any moral legitimacy and as such this isn't just history--it made history. It originally circulated in 1974 underground from hand to hand in unbound typed manuscripts. The subtitle is "an experiment in literary investigation." Solzhenitsyn had no "access to archival documents or government records" so, as he explains in his own introduction, the history is based on "reports, memoirs and letters by 227 witnesses"--including himself since he famously was an inmate of the Gulag system.

The tone of this is no detached, sober history. It's a scathing indictment of a brutal, surreal system with flashes of the blackest of humor and sharpest of ironies. I'm not about to forget, for instance, the tale of an auditorium of people applauding Stalin for over ten exhausting minutes because they all were afraid to be the first to stop. And the man who did was arrested. It's written in a powerful, very personal voice worthy of literary fiction--absolutely absorbing and despite the length not at all the slog I thought it would be. Not that some parts were not hard to read. In the beginning because so much is horrific, even for someone like me who has read first hand accounts of the Holocaust. And later the torrent of misery became numbing--I particularly started feeling that in the midst of reading about the Soviet "show trials" of the 1930s. It might be best to give this book a rest in the middle before continuing on afresh. And mind you--this edition--and all of those I've seen for sale in bookstores, is only the first two volumes of a seven-volume work.

This is a tour through islands of man-made hells and the contours of the police state by one who knew the territory intimately. In that regard, the chapters "The Arrest" and "The Interrogation" particularly stand out. Solzhenitsyn listed techniques ranging from sleep deprivation, stress positions, beatings and starvation to practices so barbaric, I flinch away at repeating them here. The Soviets could have taught the Gestapo a thing or two on torture. Solzhenitsyn recounts reading about a woman who was interrogated in a Nazi Camp and survived without giving away any information. Many, he said, would consider her a "model of a heroine." But Solzhenitsyn observes that "for a reader with a bitter Gulag past it's a model of inefficient interrogation" since she didn't "die under torture" nor was "driven insane." But above all what I think I will take away from this book is expressed in this quote: He says that "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts."(less)

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Feb 19, 2012 rmn rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you didn't know already, it really sucked to live in Soviet Russia. And not in like a, "oh it would probably suck to live in Detroit" kind of way, but in like a, "it would really suck to live in a place that arrested and tortured millions of their own citizens for doing either nothing to slightly more than nothing" kind of way.

In this work of non-fiction (and it is hard to believe any of this really happened), Solzhenitsyn delivers an in depth look at the Soviet prison system from the point...more

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About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was a Soviet and Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his writings he helped to make the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, two of his best-known works.

Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. He was exiled from...more

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The Gulag Archipelago Abridged An Experiment in Literary Investigation

The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, books I-II

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Quotes from The Gulag Archipelago ...

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” — 317 people liked it

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil.

Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” — 69 people liked it

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