{"product_id":"the-soviet-gulag-evidence-interpretation-and-comparison-9780822944645","title":"The Soviet Gulag: Evidence, Interpretation, and Comparison","description":"Before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent archival revolution, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's famous \"literary investigation\" \u003ci\u003eThe Gulag Archipelago\u003c\/i\u003e was the most authoritative overview of the Stalinist system of camps. But modern research is developing a much more thorough and nuanced understanding of the Gulag. There is a greater awareness of the wide variety of camps, many not isolated in far-off Siberia; prisoners often intermingled with local populations. The forced labor system was not completely distinct from the \"free\" labor of ordinary Soviet citizens, as convicts and non-prisoners often worked side-by-side. Nor was the Gulag unique when viewed in a global historical context. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eStill, the scale and scope of the Soviet Gulag was unprecedented. Intrinsic to Stalinist modernization, the Gulag was tasked with the construction of massive public works, scientific and engineering projects, and such mundane work as road repairs. Along with the collectivization of agriculture, the Soviet economy (including its military exertions in World War II) was in large part dependent on compulsory labor. The camp system took on an outsized economic significance, and the vast numbers of people taken in by zealous secret police were meant to fulfill material, not just political, goals. While the Soviet system lacked the explicitly dedicated extermination camps of its Nazi counterpart, it did systematically extract work from inmates to the verge of death then cynically \"released\" them to reduce officially reported mortality rates. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn an original turn, the book offers a detailed consideration of the Gulag in the context of the similar camps and systems of internment. Chapters are devoted to the juxtaposition of nineteenth-century British concentration camps in Africa and India, the Tsarist-era system of exile in Siberia, Chinese and North Korean reeducation camps, the post-Soviet penal system in the Russian Federation, and of course the infamous camp system of Nazi Germany. This not only reveals the close relatives, antecedents, and descendants of the Soviet Gulag--it shines a light on a frighteningly widespread feature of late modernity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOverall, \u003ci\u003eThe Soviet Gulag\u003c\/i\u003e offers fascinating new interpretations of the interrelationship and importance of the Gulag to the larger Soviet political and economic system, and how they were in fact parts of the same entity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael David-Fox\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Pittsburgh Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/11\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 448\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822944645\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael David-Fox \u003c\/b\u003eis professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of History, Georgetown University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eCrossing Borders: \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eModernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet Union\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eShowcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921-1941\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eRevolution of the Mind: Higher Learning among the Bolsheviks, 1918-1929\u003c\/i\u003e. David-Fox is also coeditor of \u003ci\u003eFascination and Enmity: Russia and Germany as Entangled Histories, 1914-1945\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Holocaust in the East: Local Perpetrators and Soviet Responses.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pittsburgh Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":45022838325363,"sku":"9780822944645","price":97.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/files\/img_263b2e36-2a4d-4dfa-9248-d9fa06dc83fa.jpg?v=1779280944","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/the-soviet-gulag-evidence-interpretation-and-comparison-9780822944645","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}