The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

An Experiment in Literary Investigation

By: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Narrated by: Ignat Solzhenitsyn

“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 twentieth 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 eleven 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

Incredible

This might be the single most Important book I have ever read or listened to. So much insight into the current political situation in the US. Communism is the true contagion we should be fearing.

Outstanding narration.

Must read

The chapter on torture is difficult to stomach, but this book contains lots of wisdom.

Everyone should read this book

This book was among the best books I have ever read, but it was also one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It was good in that it opened my eyes to the suffering of the Russian people. This book was suitable for me in audio format because I do not know anything about the Russian language or pronunciation. This abridged edition was helpful, as the editor explains, in that most people abandon the original three-volume manuscript after about 100 pages due to a lack of knowledge of Russia. There was additional value in this audio because the text was read by the author’s son.

The book was difficult for me to hear in that it described in detail the tortures the Russian leaders inflicted on their people.

There was some language better-suited for mature readers.

Very important book

This should be required reading in every college freshman curriculum lest we repeat the mistakes of the 20th century

Great Book

I have the hard copy but the narrator did such an amazing job I will be continuing the series on audible. Amazing piece of literature!