The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
"The Gulag Archipelago" is a comprehensive and stark account of the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system. The narrative, based on the author's own experiences as a prisoner and on extensive research, documents the history, operation, and life inside the Gulag system. It also provides a critical examination of the regime's legal system, police operations, and political leadership. The book is an intense indictment of the Soviet Union's totalitarian regime, revealing its brutality, inhumanity, and vast scale of its prison camp network.
The 197th greatest book of all time
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This book is on the following lists:
- 2nd on The 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of the Century (National Review)
- 15th on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century (Le Monde)
- 25th on Kanon na koniec wieku (Canon at the end of the century) (Rzeczpospolita (newspaper))
- 69th on The Main Works of Russian literature (Polka Academy)
- 388th on Our Users' Favorite Books of All Time (The Greatest Books Users)
- The New York Public Library's Books of the Century (New York Public Library)
- The Bigger Read List (English PEN)
- The Hundred Most Influential Books Since The War (WW2) (Central and East European Publishing Project)
- 100 Most Influential Books of the Century (Boston Public Library)
- Harold Bloom's The Western Canon (The Western Canon (Book) by Harold Bloom)
- Daily Telegraph's 100 Books of the Century, 1900-1999 (Daily Telegraph)
- 50 Memorable Books from 50 Years of Books to Remember (The New York Public Library)