Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps (Paperback)

Applebaum writes at length about the needless suffering of the hundreds, thousands, and then millions, who were abused, starved, and worked to death daily, under the auspices of the Soviet camp system. Importantly, the individual punishing regimes implemented by the guards and commanders themselves are not ignored, although there is recognition that cruelty and criminality was not universal among them. Having said this, one need look no further for a vision of Hell itself, than to read the depictions of life aboard the transport ships which sailed between the Kamkatchka area and ports such as Vladivostok, built by Gulag labour.

The 'Gulag' itself has become an almost iconic term of oppression and dictatorial power in studies of twentieth century Russia, and what the reader witnesses in Applebaum's book, is the dragging of this Soviet holocaust into the light for all to see. Contrary to the opinions of the obviously misled and misread Mr Podmore, it is not socialism that is portrayed in such excruciatingly horrific detail, but a degenerative communist political system in the guise of Stalinism. Applebaum makes comparisons between the Gulag and the Nazi's system of concentration camps, but reveals such a connection to be inconclusive and limited, the intended ethos of each differing widely from the other.

Applebaum also reveals in her lucid, and painstakingly researched book, much about the rationale behind the Soviet system and its attitude towards its people at all levels, with disgraced ex-party members often occupying cells or camp barracks alongside peasant farmers and criminals, who were commonly favoured by the camp staff. The story of the Gulag is synonymous with that of Stalinism and its immediate aftermath, and it is refreshing to read a book that points equally to the facts that: a) the Gulag spread rapidly under Stalin, its workforce being the pivotal unit in the Five Year Plans, but that: b) the numbers of inmates in the camps wasn't at its highest during the purges of the thirties, but following the Second World War, in fact peaked in the early 1950s.

For a broad and felicitous understanding of twentieth century Russian history, this work is essential. It demonstrates that although corrupt regimes may rise and fall over time, they are ever in the present with regard to their effects on the human psyche. In some respects, Applebaum's book illustrates exactly where the communist dream went wrong in Russia, and where the system's scorn of its own limitations was focused most acutely. It was called the 'Gulag'. Absolutely superb!

Using recently available material, GULAG offers the first narrative account of the Soviet concentration camps and their role in the Soviet political and economic system. It is lucidly written and well-researched, and exhaustively detailed. The Gulag is shown to be a society within a society, while closely resembling the wider Soviet system. The central role of the camps in the Soviet economy highlights the illegitimacy of the Soviet system. The work is lucidly written and well-researched, and exhaustively detailed. This is important, as it is only through the horrific details that the horrors of the communist system are revealed and brought home to us. This criminally unrecorded key piece of 20th century history has been done admirable justice by this excellent work.