Solzhenitsyn

by Michael Scammell

This book, first published in 1984, was the first full biography of Solzhenitsyn. Starting with his childhood, it covers every period of his life in considerable detail, showing how Solzhenitsyn's development paralleled and mirrored the development of Soviet society: ambitious and idealistic in the twenties and thirties, preoccupied with the struggle for survival in the forties, hopeful in the fifties and sixties and disillusioned in the seventies. Solzhenitsyn's life thus serves as a paradigm for the history of twentieth-century Communism and for the intelligentsia's attitudes to Communism. At the same time, this book relates Solzhenitsyn's life to his works, all of which contain a large element of autobiography.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Russia, Biography Memoir, Politics

1057 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Laurie Vandyke]

Such an interesting look at Soviet life back in Sollzhenitsyn's time!

[Andrew Boyle]

Decent. Solzhenitsyn is an interesting figure.

[Velvetink]

$2 score