The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Outline

The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 (1973) is a powerful account of the Soviet system of forced labour camps. Drawing on his own years as a prisoner and the testimony of hundreds of others, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes arrests, interrogations, and life in the camps, revealing the scale of suffering under Soviet rule. The book had a major impact on how the world understood the Soviet Union.

• The book describes the Soviet system of forced labour camps, from arrests and interrogations to daily life inside the camps.
• Solzhenitsyn draws on his own years as a prisoner and the testimony of hundreds of other people.
• Together, these accounts reveal the scale of suffering under Soviet rule.
• The book combines personal memoir with historical investigation rather than relying on one voice alone.
• Published in 1973, it had a major impact on how the world understood the Soviet Union.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) was a Russian novelist and historian who spent years in Soviet labour camps after criticising the government in private letters. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and was later exiled from the Soviet Union before returning to Russia. His works include One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago.