The Gulag--a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of poli
tical and criminal prisoners--was a system of repression and punishment that ter
rorized the entire society, embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism.
In this magisterial and acclaimed history, Anne Applebaum offers the first fully
documented portrait of the Gulag, from its origins in the Russian Revolution, t
hrough its expansion under Stalin, to its collapse in the era of glasnost. Apple
baum intimately re-creates what life was like in the camps and links them to the
larger history of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmark and lo
ng-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essential book for anyone who wishes
to understand the history of the twentieth century.
