Product Description

Excerpts from nine of the most widely read Gulag books. In addition to providing a ghastly record of Communist terror, the Critchlows also explain why Western readers developed such deep mistrust of peaceful coexistence with any Communist nation. The Critchlows have rendered a signal service to scholarship by providing attention, access, and background to this historically important literature. --John Earl Haynes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161858 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Booklist
Excerpted from 10 personal accounts of imprisonment in Communist gulags, this anthology represents the camp literature that galvanized American anti-Communist activists from the 1950s onward. This may seem a historical rather than a contemporary topic, yet the collection's inclusion of writings by people imprisoned in countries that still operate political gulags--China, Cuba, and Vietnam--merits consideration. The Critchlows preface each piece with a summary of its impact on anti-Communist opinion and its conviction that Communist regimes were inhumane, untrustworthy, and inimical to religion. The editors argue that Catholics, especially, were receptive to this material (Phyllis Schlafly became prominent championing Hungary's Cardinal Mindszenty). Indeed Christ-like suffering is the overt structure of two testaments by priests, one tortured in China, the other in Romania. Less religious anti-Communist sentiment will also find ample material for outrage at the physical and mental debasement intentionally inflicted on these prisoners. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Publisher
In this book, Donald Critchlow has selected excerpts from nine of the most widely read books from the powerful genre of Gulag literature.

Customer Reviews

FABULOUS BUT PAINFUL HISTORY
"Enemies of the State" provides a riveting look into the slave-labor prisons of the Communist world during several decades of the 20th century. It brings history alive to a whole new generation of Americans who may be only vaguely aware of the oppression, torture and viciousness imposed on their countrymen by totalitarian leaders like Stalin, Mao, and Castro. The book contains 10 first-person accounts by people who spent years wrongfully imprisoned in slave-labor camps. Very much like the first-person accounts of Jews held in German concentration camps during the Holocaust, "Enemies of the State" also includes historical background and explanations of the political themes of the times. The book is factual and compelling for anyone over the age of 12. It is a great resource for high school or college students, and teachers and college professors. The general public will also find this book to be fascinating reading, although it is not for anyone with a weak stomach. The tortures and degradations described in the book are beyond imagination, but they are real and are presented in painful and vivid detail. Anyone with a love of history, however, will find this book to be an important addition to their library. I highly recommend it for youths and adults, and I especially encourage home schoolers to consider including this book in their studies.