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The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

An Experiment in Literary Investigation

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The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

By: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Narrated by: Ignat Solzhenitsyn
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About this listen

"Best Nonfiction Book of the 20th Century" (Time)

“It is impossible to name a book that had a greater effect on the political and moral consciousness of the late 20th century.” (David Remnick, The New Yorker)

The Nobel Prize winner’s towering masterpiece of world literature, the searing record of four decades of terror and oppression, in one abridged volume (authorized by the author). Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum.

Drawing on his own experiences before, during, and after his 11 years of incarceration and exile, on evidence provided by more than 200 fellow prisoners, and on Soviet archives, Solzhenitsyn reveals with torrential narrative and dramatic power the entire apparatus of Soviet repression, the state within the state that once ruled all-powerfully with its creation by Lenin in 1918. Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims - this man, that woman, that child - we encounter the secret police operations, the labor camps and prisons, the uprooting or extermination of whole populations, the “welcome” that awaited Russian soldiers who had been German prisoners of war. Yet we also witness astounding moral courage, the incorruptibility with which the occasional individual or a few scattered groups, all defenseless, endured brutality and degradation. And Solzhenitsyn’s genius has transmuted this grisly indictment into a literary miracle.

“The greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever leveled in modern times.” (George F. Kennan)

“Solzhenitsyn’s masterpiece.... The Gulag Archipelago helped create the world we live in today.” (Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag: A History, from the foreword)

©2007 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Freedom & Security Politics & Government Russia War Imperialism Stalin Military
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What listeners say about The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

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Extremely disappointing interpretation of fundamental literature

Sorry but the interpretation by the narrator does not sit well. Aware of his relation to the author, but he lends no gravity to what he describes, extremely incongruous and came across as almost light-hearted at times.

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A must read

It is a book, that everyone must read in today’s world, with everything that is going on.


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abridged version

Great abridged version. Edited beautifully would highly recommend. Haunting and life changing listening to the account of misery.

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Monumental, heart-wrenching, provocative

The book is wonderfully read and easy to listen to because of the pace and straightforward writing style and translation of Sozhenitsyn. Its difficult and dark content will provoke thought, introspection and enquiry, yet did not overwhelm. It is very possible to leave off for a moment and pick back up later without difficulty. This is a good book for short or long bursts. It is a good companion to a more general history of Eastern Europe, Russia and/or the Soviet Union.

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