This is a single post from deeden.co.uk made during the period May 2002 to April 2009. During a previous grand redesign I decided to make a break with the past and consign the old entries to history. This entry is from April 2006 and lives here forevermore.

Best New Reading of 2005: Gulag - A History of the Soviet Camps

1812 : Gulag - A History of the Soviet CampsA book called Gulag doesn’t sound like the a light read and it definitely isn’t. It is a fascinating history of the Prison Camps in Russia and the Soviet Union from before the October Revolution up until the fall of the Soviet Union, meaning that, despite the title, it doesn’t just cover the Soviet camps.

It’s a disturbing history covering a brutal system but it brilliantly tells both the story of how the system came about and was perpetuated, as well as giving an overview of what life was like for the prisoners in the various types of camp. Obviously no book can give an in-depth view of the life of a prisoner, however this book does a great job of giving a glimpse of the hardships. It also gave me the urge to read more about the camps, such as “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.