Gulag

A History

By: Anne Applebaum

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 27 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2004

The Gulag - a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of political and criminal prisoners - was a system of repression and punishment that terrorized 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, through its expansion under Stalin, to its collapse in the era of glasnost.

Applebaum intimately recreates what life was like in the camps and links them to the larger history of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmark and long-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the 20th century.

©2007 Anne Applebaum (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Deep, disturbing, and very important.

This study is a must not just for students of history. Sadly the study if inhumanity seems more than necessary to preserve the limited hkmanity that remains.

Both fascinating and repetitive

Great information and insight into the Russian cutural memory. However, as an audiobook it is too repetitive. The narrator made a few distracting errors.

People should want to know! Possible required read

Before Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and its people became wonderfully important to me, I was proud to at least be able to say in conversion that Stalin was likely worse than Hitler. I did not know enough.
I've spent over five years finding and investigating stories of wonderful people from these wonderful places. These people went through (and sometimes perpetrated) unimaginable horror. Many good people made mistakes. However, the most important thing to know is how these people went through these experiences, were able to be good people and raise good people.
I won't say it's only important to see how some people overcame these trials, though that has extreme value. It is also necessary to see how some people didn't make it through these trials. It's all part of history, and if we claim to value human life, we must see how many people in many places lived.
This book was a valuable addition to my knowledge. I appreciated the fact that people in the past were not judged according to today's standards, morals, and knowledge. I also appreciated that today's knowledge, morals, and standards were discussed in relation to these people.
The most important thing I can say about this book is not that it was able to add to my knowledge, but rather that its conclusion was a beautiful exposition of why what I have learned is important. A thorough and honest exploration of the past - one's personal past, one's family past, one's cultural past, one's national past - is necessary. Neither good nor bad must be ignored as we look at our reflection.
Most of all, we must remember!

Well narrated and good insight in to USSR Gulags

This book opened my mind to the atrocities of the USSR and the struggle of it's victims. Most memorable for me was understanding how the vast harsh uninhabited lands were conquered by force labor. Lots of statistics and names but you can feel the cold. well narrated and easy to follow.

Wow

I’m a bit at a loss of words after having listened through this book. I am so glad I decided to dive into the history of the soviet labor and concentration camps. It is by no means an easy book to listen through. The stories are brutal and harrowing. Scenes that were described will doubtful be erased from my memory. This is an important history to know for many reasons. The current situation going on in Ukraine sparked my interest in 20th century history and more specifically Russian history. You will most certainly understand everything you’d ever want to know about the gulags and more upon completion. But you will learn much more than that. It helped me understand why communism doesn’t work and how Russia’s history still weighs upon its people today. Worth every minute of the read.

I also had zero qualms with the narrator. I do not speak Russian and I thought her pronunciation was fine. I listened at 1.7 speed for most of the book. I highly recommend this book if you are an avid historian or a human who wants to understand and appreciate further the freedoms we get to enjoy.

Great research butchered by narrator

This is a very important and very powerful book.
It’s completely butchered by the narrator, as plenty of other reviews mention. The differences in how different words and names are pronounced make is difficult to follow. i speak Russian and know the words, and even with that sometimes i had to guess through the context. All the zek / zhek (which is a different abbreviation that comes from that time so you can’t immediately discard it), kartuga instead of katorga (they are not pirates, no matter how much you want it to be Tortuga), daka / dacha and plenty of other things like that will probably make it much more difficult experience for someone who doesn’t speak/know/understand Russian. It’s unfortunate

As to the book itself - it’s mighty powerful. Well researched, interestingly structured (history of the start and “best times”, general description of life and habits, history of downfall) and executed with plenty of understanding of why it’s necessary to learn from history (the statement in prologue saying how this book is written not so that it can never happen again but because it will most likely happen again brought me to tears as i watch what is happening in Ukraine right now), it’s definitely a top 5 reads of the year for me.

This book was a masterpiece and should be studied as part of curriculums globally

What a master work. Should be mandatory reading globally. I highly recommend and am both amazed and horrified by the stories.

Extensive and detailed

The book provides a detailed history of the Gulag system in the USSR until its dismantelment when the Soviet Union collapsed. The author presents statistical data along with personal stories of jailed people whom she interviewed. She also used documental evidence (at least the one available) from archives. She explains the development of the Gulag system in parallel with the political developments in the Soviet Union. The epilogue is interesting and, in my view, should be a reading in the program of high school.

informative to a degree

Anne Applebaum's books are always informative. She is very smug and thin skinned on Twitter. She has a pro-Polish bias. She has a tendency to over hype lesser known Gulag writers at the expense of Solzhenitsyn. That said I will buy every single book she writes.

Horrifying but a Must Read

This is a book that cannot be missed or ignored. For As many people died in the Soviet gulags as were slaughtered in WWII. The numbers are incalculable. And yet this history is not given a mention in school history books or elsewhere. It’s like they didn’t exist. And all the while, communism is touted as a worldwide solution to inequality. Applebaum’s book is as impressive as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago.” A dire must read for any history buff and for anyone with a fear that history will most assuredly repeat itself.

Laura Merlington’s narration is spectacular. So even and so tempered is her voice. #RussianHistory #gulag #Communism #survival #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes