Hardback. New. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent archival revolution, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's famous "literary investigation" The Gulag Archipelago 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. Still, 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 ...

Univ of Pittsburgh Pr, Date: 2016. Hardcover. New. 1st edition. 448 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.50 inches. 2016. Univ of Pittsburgh Pr ISBN 0822944642 9780822944645 [GB]

ISBN10: 0822944642, ISBN13: 9780822944645, [publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press] Hardcover First Edition Still shrink wrapped
[Toronto, ON, Canada] [Publication Year: 2016]