The Gulag Archipelago, Volume 1

An Experiment in Literary Investigation

By: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 25 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time

Volume 1 of the gripping epic masterpiece, Solzhenitsyn's chilling report of his arrest and interrogation, which exposed to the world the vast bureaucracy of secret police that haunted Soviet society. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum.

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

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

“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

©2015 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

History repeats itself

We must remember the past to prevent it from repeating itself. This book has given me a new favorite writer. Solzhenitsyn describes the beauty of human resilience as well as the danger it can impose as we rapidly adjust to previously unbearable emotional and physical limits and grasp on to hope that "it cannot go on much longer", allowing our situation to worsen and worsen until it is too late to act.

Truly a Masterpiece

This work is a large commitment in both time and subject matter, but it is very, very worth it. A chilling and sobering masterpiece that was wonderfully narrated. I believe everyone should at some point read this!

Inevitable Horrors of Communism

I never thought I’d make it through such a long and dense history, but this Audible version is among the best I’ve heard. The accounts are horrifying and must not be forgotten. Frederick Davidson’s narration has a tone, pace and quality that never bores and creates vivid images. Bravo! On to Volume ll !

Eye Opening

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Does well to shed light on one of the hallmark atrocities of the 20th century.

amazing but need a new narrator

Arguably the most important work of our time. But for the love of God this book deserves a better narrator.

A critical indictment of Stalin’s Russia

Solzhenitsyn is a masterful writer: the sardonic wit employed throughout his work creates a literary voice unlike any other. This is only bolstered by Frederick Davidson’s narration, whose subtleties in performance make for an engaging listen. And of course, the subject matter should be required reading for all people.

Truly a classic

This is worthy of the time it takes, as a look into the soul of a man when all else is stripped away. The reader makes makes this difficult read come alive with clearly pronounced Russian and German.

A Deserved Reputation as a Masterpiece

It’s a good as I had been told. Solzhenitsyn’s insights into the human spirit are profound and balance the otherwise unremittingly bleak recounting of the stories from Gulag. My only criticism is that the narrator is a bit “too British” with his upper class accent which took me out of my sense of the Russianness of the novel.

The audio quality of this book is atrocious

This story is really good and something I really want to listen to but the audio on this book is one of the worst I've ever heard on Audible. With headphones on, I can hear someone talking in the background the entire time, was someone else recording in the same space? Were people just having a conversation? How did this pass editing at a publisher like HarperCollins? I swear around the 34 minute mark of chapter 2 I can hear a door open.
I really hope this isn't an issue in the other 2 volumes because it greatly detracts from an otherwise phenomenal experience

Hard to explain...

Just finished Volume 1 and it’s difficult imagine what Solzhenitsyn wrote is what actually took place. This is not to say I don’t believe it... on the contrary. It must be believed and it must never be forgotten.

The narrator does an exceptional job with his cadence and tone. His cheeky and at times humorous tone captures the good nature of Solzhenitsyn, as he endeavors to recount the most depressing atrocities of known to man. 5 stars to Davidson.

I will not venture to describe or review the story. It is what it is and it deserves to be read (or heard) by all who value liberty, believe in the dignity of the individual, and care for democratic principles. This is the story of what happens when those things are replaced with the tyranny of communism.