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Chronicles the history of the Soviet concentration camp system from its start after the Russian Revolution to its collapse, discussing its creation and the way of life for those who lived there.
Reviews with the most likes.
Extremely thoroughly researched, documented, organized and structured (though I disliked the chosen structure - on themes rather than chronologically, because it leads to reiterations of the same periods).
But dry and often boring, failing to capture the most important element of the Gulag: the scope of individual human suffering, lost here in a too ”from above”, too large and statistical picture.
PS: I recommend you avoid the Penguin Books edition, it is printed in tiny-tiny crowded letters, on very thin paper, with ink that gets on the fingers.