{"product_id":"enemies-of-the-state-personal-stories-from-the-gulag-9781566635219","title":"Enemies of the State: Personal Stories from the","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong before Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) shocked the Western world with its frightening description of a typical day in a forced-labor camp during the Stalin era, some readers in the West already knew of prison life in the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc, and other Communist countries. A powerful genre of gulag literature had emerged in the late 1930s and developed throughout the cold war. Books by survivors revealed in graphic detail the systematic implementation of a totalitarian police state that induced terror in its citizens through torture, imprisonment in slave labor camps, and death. In Enemies of the State, Donald and Agnieszka Critchlow have selected excerpts from nine of the most widely read books from this gulag literature. The stories are riveting and inspiring. They are dramatic by their nature and illustrate humanity at its heroic best. But they have historical value too, because in addition to providing a ghastly record of Communist terror, they also explain why Western readers developed such deep mistrust of “peaceful coexistence” with any Communist nation. Memoirs from survivors of Communist prisons confirmed beliefs that the Communists could not be trusted. They told readers that Communist regimes operated through deception and denial, and that sympathetic visitors to the Soviet Union, China, North Vietnam, and Cuba were too often misled by the carefully staged performances of Communist officials. In short, gulag literature reinforced among American anti-Communists the idea of an apocalyptic struggle between communism and Western Christendom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Critchlows have rendered a signal service by providing attention, access, and background to this historically important literature. -- John Earl Haynes, author of Early Cold War Spies\u003cbr\u003eThese accounts by largely forgotten figures [offer] a strength in the face of the inversion of truth and rationality that is incomprehensible. -- Tim Marchman * New York Sun *\u003cbr\u003eThis book provides shocking insight into the workings of communism and, therefore, into the Cold War itself. * Conservativenet *\u003cbr\u003eThese stories should not only be read for the lessons they can teach us about socialism. They should be read because they are great literature, human drama, and an inspiration to everyone who will ever face adversity. * Conservative Monitor *\u003cbr\u003eThe stories told and retold here...make for painful but necessary reading.... What they have to say we must never forget. * First Things *\u003cbr\u003eThe narratives collected...exemplify...the abuses of human rights in Communist states and act...as landmarks in...history... * The Russian Review *\u003cbr\u003ePowerful and revealing information about the human costs of the attempted applications of Marxism-Leninism… -- Paul Hollander * Journal of Cold War Studies *\u003cbr\u003eThese memoirs pose important questions about the monolithic character of communist ideology. -- Karla Cruise * Slavic and East European Journal *\u003cbr\u003eCritchlow contributes greatly to our understanding of American politics in the last half of the twentieth century. -- Jonathan J. Bean","brand":"Ivan R Dee, Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50515921011031,"sku":"9781566635219","price":11.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/enemies-of-the-state-personal-stories-from-the-gulag-9781566635219","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}