Bernie Siegel writes in a very conversational-easy-to-read style in a book packed with information, facts, and understanding which is helpful for everyone regarding the connection between mind-body healing. Bernie Siegel helps us to take responsibility for our own health and to work as a team member with medical professionals in a co-operative style of relating.
Having fairly recently been diagnosed with an advanced cancer this book helped me to see cancer in a new light.
Everyone would bemnefit from reading this book for their health in general.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in their health! You will learn about true healing, from the inside out.

I have been blessed to attend several of his workshops & have met & talked with him in person & frequently email back & forth, He is a very very special person & he helped me successfully control a life threatening rare illness so I could use the illness as a gift & catalyst for living well & being able to achieve my dreams -Marsha Lampert MBA MS Wantagh NY

This book is all about the Soviet Union under Stalin. The study guide gives lots of information about life at that time, and about the meaning of Solzhenitsyn's themes. A big help if you want to understand the story better. I tried to get this kind of information on the web but couldn't find it. I think I'd like to read more about the author now.

Another triumph by Solzenitsyn. A deeply humane book, in which the author weaves several tales around the central thread of a Soviet research establishment where the researchers are political prisoners. The stories in themselves are gripping, but what again holds the attention (as in the author's other works)is Solzhenitsyn's deeply profound portayal of the human cost of the repressive system, and how deeply it affected all of the citizens of the RSFSR, however exalted or mundane their place within that system. Particularly interesting were the depiction of Stalin and his relationships with his lackies, and the inner workings of Lubyanka Prison in central Moscow. The ending has a thought-provoking sting in the tale for us in the West. Recommended.

I was first introdced to Solzhenitsyn's works when I was a freshman in high school, far too many years ago in a little town. The book was the Volume 1 of The Gulag Archipelago. It was really an eye-opener for me in so many ways, given that it was the first "really serious" book that I'd read.

I believe that Solzhenitsyn is the best writer of the 20th century, or at least he's the top writer I've read so far (and I've read a lot of books). Maybe that's influenced by my early exposure, but I don't think so; I find his works just as compelling now as I did then.

The First Circle is one of his most "accessible" works (that is, you can just jump in and start reading) and probably one of his best. A very compelling story; his portraits of the various vile creatures of the Soviet government have been shown to be quite accurate, and the way the various plots intertwine and are resolved is wonderful.

The First Circle gives great insight into a culture totally foreign to most US citizens, as the book's a mixture of spy novel, guide to life in a Gulag camp, and brief introduction to Soviet society of the 1950s. A depressing place to be sure, but fascinating. Well worth reading.

What makes The First Circle such a great book (the best I've read by Solzhenitsyn) is how he reduces a political system and economic ideology to individual choices. It was a system built upon greed, jealousy, selfish pragmatism and fear, the vanity of Stalin, the petty rivalry between commanding officers, the desperate connivance of a prisoner who will turn against his fellow man in order to better his own lot. In other words, humanity.

The consequences were also human: the loss of the prime years of a man's life, a life without the love of a woman, a father worrying about the fate of his young daughter thousands of miles away. Solzhenitsyn does a masterful job of rendering the real world behind philosophy and ideology, the world the USSR lost sight of when they placed ends before means.

In the end, what is perhaps most frightening is that the face of evil is so banal.

Having just finished reading it for the third time, I believe that Cancer Ward is a very fine novel, rich at many levels: in its depiction of Soviet provincial society in 1955, a poor society just emerging from Stalinism; in its portrayal of many separate characters (doctors, nurses, patients, hospital workers) in that society, many of whose lives have been permanently damaged by the terror and the GULAG, but in different ways; and, as I know from personal experience, in its depiction of the isolated world of the cancer patient, from which the rest of society is seen dimly, as though through dirty glass. In spite of all medical progress, the basics of this world have not changed much in 50 years: the core treatments are still surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and the side effects both long and short term can still be brutal.

The ending of the book will disappoint those who want a happy ending, or just an ending with all the loose ends tied up. In real life, though, loose ends usually stay loose. My thought is that Solzhenitshyn intended the reader to understand that for the characters and the society who are so damaged by the past there can be no happy endings; the best they can hope for is to continue from day to day, grasping at whatever happiness briefly comes their way.

Cancer Ward is often overshadowed by its predecessor, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and its successor, the immense memoir, The Gulag Archipelago. While the worldly impact of those two works is perhaps greater, the aesthetic power of Cancer Ward is stronger than both of those works. The story is poignant and powerful, reaching out and probing deeply into the essential questions that are never answered by not only Soviet society, but western culture as a whole. The religious message that emerges is stunning and unique, recalling the works of Dostoyevsky. Overall, this is an excellent book, and any reader who enjoyed One Day or Gulag will be blown away by this work.

Those were the words that Dorothy used to describe Oz after waking up in the bosom of her family. The same intense feeling came over me while reading this book, a task that spanned several years, as I often put it aside for other things, always returning, drawn by the power of the author's prose in opening his world to us. The realness of Solzhenitsyn's worlds makes him perhaps the most accessible Russian novelist. As he described the village where Kostoglotov, the protagonist, lived, or in recounting how Ruasov, the villian/fellow victim ruined lives while justifying his actions, a vivid portrait fills the reader's imagination.
The human struggle to find hope and beauty in the most tragic of settings is what this novel evokes so well. Soviet medicine, cancer, a Zek fresh from the Gulag, and in a twilight turned dawn, Solzhenitsyn finds for his semi-autobiographical protagonist happiness, not only in winning victories against a malignant tumor, but in thoughts of perhaps one more summer to live, with nights sleeping under the stars, of three beech trees that stand like ancient guardians of an otherwise empty steppe horizon, a dog that shared his life there, and of a young nurse and spinster doctor, both of whom he hoped at times to love.
The picture one often got (accurately) of the Soviet Union was of greyness, gloom, uniform drabnes, and of a totalitarian police state. This book serves to remind the reader that, despite such circumstances, even desparately sick human being might still seek, and find, happiness in his own, private world. Along with that, Solzhenitsyn never lets us forget the utter corruption of the Soviet state, often in the person of Ruasov, an ailing bureaucrat who has managed to turn personnel management into an exquisite art form, as an instrument of psychological torture, slowly administered.
Of all Solzehenitsyn's works, this is my favorite. The people one encounters are vividly real, and the ending isn't what one would think (or hope), but is fitting, nonetheless.
-Lloyd A. Conway

This book is not a novel. It is an unusually constructed history in three volumes, written by a word-class writer. It is a heavy read. In this volume, Solzhenitsyn describes arrests, interrogations, tortures, trials, prisons, and methods of transporatation from the prisons to the labour camps. He gives a brief history of the genesis of Gulag, its principles and its expansion, in the chapter "A Brief History of Our Sewage Disposal System." Solzhenitysn marshalls an impressive range of facts and first hand anecdotes in addition to his own experiences, usually relating them in a straightforward manner, sometimes with bitter, vicious sarcasm, sometimes with passionate anger. The book is an astounding achievement, especially when one considers that he wrote it in sections, hiding each as it was completed; he was never able to refer back to what he had previously written, yet I noticed no repetitions. The book is an astounding achievement, immensely powerful, but very depressing, sometimes heart-breaking. Nonetheless, anyone who wishes to be well-informed in general, or about history in particular, must read it.

It is a rare occurrence in the history of the human race when a truly great man rises up from the masses and passes on to the rest of us an eternal truth or knowledge that will serve as a testament against the forces of evil. Alexander Solzhenitsyn must certainly rank as one of these great men. All people who live in freedom should speak his name with reverence, and all should read the unabridged edition of 'The Gulag Archipelago,' the author's indictment against the most evil creation mankind ever fashioned: Marxist-Leninist Communism.

Like other great men, Solzhenitsyn's early life gave little indication of the monumental importance he would one day achieve. But one day, while serving as an officer in the Soviet army during WWII, something happened to our author that happened to so many others under the Soviet regime: Solzhenitsyn was arrested for insubordination, sentenced to eight years, and thrown into the gaping maw of the Gulag prison system. Unfortunately for the memory of the 'Great Father' (read Joey Stalin), this obscure army officer lived to tell the tale of all he saw and heard during his imprisonment. The result is the voluminous three volume series presented here in translation. 'The Gulag Archipelago' serves as both an indictment of the evil Soviet regime and as a memorial for the untold millions who died in the camps.

The overarching theme of this book is the process, from start to finish, of internment in the Gulag system. Starting with the dreaded 'knock in the middle of the night,' the author traces the nightmare of incarceration through the interrogation, the sentencing, the transportation to the prison camps, the grinding work conditions of the camps, and the eventual release into eternal exile or tentative freedom. Solzhenitsyn repeatedly delves into historical analysis, biography, journalism, philosophical musings, and literature to present his account. What emerges is page after page of heartrending suffering that is nearly incomprehensible to any sane human mind. The endless accounts of cruelty sicken the soul and should strike anyone who thinks communism is a great system of government deaf and dumb.

Volume one begins the harrowing odyssey into madness, outlining Solzhenitsyn's own arrest, the endless waves of people that fed the prison system, the interrogation procedures used to elicit false confessions to meaningless crimes, the dreaded Soviet criminal code containing the notorious 'Article 58' under which millions went to jail as political prisoners, the disintegration of the Soviet legal system to what basically amounted to a rubber stamp type of sentencing, and the transportation of prisoners via train to the eastern reaches of the Soviet empire.

Volume two deals mainly with camp life, with all of the trials and travails a person faced and how people struggled to survive. It is here we learn about Stalin's canal building projects and the thousands who died to fulfill the sick dreams of a ruthless sociopath. We see the horrible rations prisoners were forced to survive upon while having their ears filled with disgusting propaganda about how their work was important in helping to create the worker's paradise. The second volume also contains a history about how the gulag system emerged and how it spread, a discussion about loyal communists who so internalized the party belief system that they refused to believe Stalin sold them out, and chapters about the different types of people confined to the gulag (trusties, thieves, kids, women, and politicals).

Volume three focuses mostly on prisoner defiance of the terrible conditions in the prisons, discussing escape attempts (especially Georgi Tenno, a hero to the human race and indefatigable in his disobedience of the Soviet authorities), and outright prison revolts where the entire population of a prison banded together against the common evil. We then see Solzhenitsyn's release into exile and his ultimate 'rehabilitation' after the death of Stalin and the rise of Khrushchev and his 'moderate' reforms. The series ends with a call for more investigations into Soviet atrocities committed in the gulags.

No summary could completely outline the scope of this book; so enormous is the amount of detail held in these pages. The reader is tirelessly assailed with the names of those butchered under the hammer and sickle. Predictably, most of the blame for these murders falls on Comrade Stalin, author of the kulakization pogroms, the endless political purges, and the continuous sufferings inflicted on the various peoples under his control. Always referring to this beast in the most insolent and sarcastic tones imaginable, Solzhenitsyn rightly calls Stalin 'Satan.' Hitler was a mere schoolboy when held up to the unholy terror of the 'great' Dzhugashvili.

Still, one gets the sense of the majesty and power of the great Russian people in these accounts. Nothing will keep these people down for long. Everything the camps threw at these many of these wondrous creatures failed to break their spirit. They figured out how to lessen the back breaking labor of the camps, learned how to stay alive on rations barely fit for a dog, struggled to escape the chains that bound them to the death camps. Although the author laments the docility of those serving sentences, there are enough tales of bravery and defiance to warm the most cynical heart.

I highly recommend reading the unabridged version of 'The Gulag Archipelago.' There used to be an abridged version of some 900 pages floating around, but only the 2000-page edition brings home the full scope of the evils of communism. Accessibility is a problem, but stare into the eyes of Yelizaveta Yevgenyevna Anichkova on page 488 in the first volume and tell me her memory does not deserve an effort on your part to read every page of one of the most important books ever written.

One of the most monumental accounts of one of the cruellest ideologies of history,this book should be read by all
Layer by layer Solzhenitsyn exposes the hideous system of imprisonment ,death and torture that he refers to as the 'Gulag Archipelago'
He strips away that the misconception of the good Tsar Lenin betrayed by his evil heirs and exposes how it was Lenin and his henchmen who put into place the brutal totalitarianism , which would be inherited and continued by Stalin
In fact the only thing that Stalin really did differently was to introduce a more personalised ,Imperial style of rule but otherwise carried on the evil work of Lenin
It was Lenin who imprisoned the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats) , Mensheviks,Social Democrats,Social Revolutionaries Anarchists and independent intelligentsia and had many killed
In this way he completely destroyed all opposition to Bolshevik hegemony
Under Lenin the persecution started of anybody convicted of religious activity and the complete destruction of the church in Russia
And it was Lenin who began the genocide of whole ethnic groups that would later gain momentum under Stalin
Under the Communist system all that is spiritual or not purely material in nature is destroyed.And we discover what a horror Marx's idea of 'dialectic materialism ' really is
But I cannot describe the horrors which Solzhenitsyn outlines in this book :the hideous torutres,the slave markets selling of young women into sexual slavery

Solzhenitsyn describes how the prison system of the Tsarist system was compassionate by comparison but the mild abuses of Tsarist imprisonment where reacted to with a shrill outcry that never greeted the horrors of Bolshevism and Communism
As he says in his ever present biting sarcasm "Its just not fashionable,just not fashionable
And even today,even after the fall of Communism in Europe (though its iron grip remains strong in parts of Asia,Africa and in Cuba) its still not regarded as fashionable to highlight the horrors of Communism as it is to do so for other human rights abuses of this and other centuries

The entirety of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's short novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" takes place on a winter day in 1951 in a Siberian labor camp. The title character, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, has been a prisoner there for the past eight years and has two more to go, provided his sentence isn't extended even longer for no reason at all. As a Soviet soldier in World War II, he was imprisoned after being accused of spying for the Germans, but the novel is concerned more with his daily routine at the camp than with the politics behind his imprisonment.

Like anybody who's been in a highly structured and disciplined environment for a long time, Shukhov has developed his own individualized way of living day to day, bending the rules, avoiding punishment, and making life a little more bearable under the circumstances. Temperatures are commonly well below zero and the food is barely nutritional enough to keep the prisoners alive, but Shukhov has adapted well enough to know how to stay warm and make the most out of his meals. On this particular day, Shukhov's squad is forced to work construction; the novel describes how well Shukhov has honed his masonry skills as he expertly lays blocks and mortar building a wall for a building that will be used to hold future prisoners. Life at the camp has made him tough and independent; his only weakness is tobacco, for which he will beg, borrow, or steal.

The novel is based on Solzhenitsyn's own experience as a labor camp prisoner under Stalin's reign, and therefore it has a sincere, natural, brutal quality that not even someone like Orwell could imitate. More than anything, though, it portrays a man whose spirit is strong enough to triumph over the most extreme adversity. Case in point: There is another prisoner named Fetiukov, a sniveling weasel who cries about his harsh treatment. Shukhov observes that Fetuikov won't survive his imprisonment because he has the wrong attitude, which is why he can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy. This work is not only an indictment of the machinations of one of the twentieth century's most oppressive political systems; it also succeeds as a concise study in humanism.

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is just that - a detailed description of one day in the gulag: the humiliation, the struggle to survive the elements, the mindless labour, the petty indignities one suffers and the mistrust one has for your fellow inmates. It is a quick read - it really only takes an hour or two, but the mental and psychological toll it takes is tremendous - especially after you realize that what you have read is only one day of many, one day of perhaps years that will be spent in an identical manner. After reading the book, you are literally drained emotionally; this above anything else makes it a masterpiece. There are no riveting characters, the plot is simply survival. Yet you empathize with Ivan and his fellows, as you empathize with Solzhenitsyn, who wrote this book largly based on personal experience. While I heartily recommend this book, I caution you not to read it if you are in a sunny disposition.

This book is an excellent example of the horrors of the Stalinist work camps (Gulag) that were in existence for most of Russia's modern history. Alexander Solzhenitsyn masterfully weaves descriptions of minute details, which, surprisingly, do not become tedious, but provide a better understanding of the task or action that the main character performs, with a universal theme that all people can relate to - survival. The title accurately describes the setting of the book; its entirety occurs in one day of the life of Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner. This may confuse some in that everyday tasks and unique events around this main character provoke flashbacks more often than not, and provide a complete picture of this man's life before he was imprisoned and since he has been serving his ten-year sentence. All in all, this book has a superior edge to most other books on this same subject in that its author, ALexander Solzhenitsyn, went through the same struggles as the main character of the novel, providing valuable insights, thoughts, and emotions that tie the novel together. An excellent read - one that I would recommend to anyone.

There are lengthy biographies of Solzhenitsyn by Scammell and Thomas, and specialized studies (e.g. Ericson's). Pearce's book meets the need of public and undergraduate libraries for a very readable, concise, and up-to-date biography of this controversial Nobel Prize winner. Pearce's book includes some otherwise unavailable recent material by Solzhenitsyn -- the prose poems at the end of the book -- so graduate libraries ought to have it, also.

Individuals who have read Solzhenitsyn's own autobiographical works and open letters might not need this book, but for most readers it will be a good introduction. It has the salutary effect of prompting one to go and (re)read works such as The First Circle. Pearce doesn't go into depth in discussion of Solzhenitsyn's books, but says enough to quicken interest in them.

Pearce shows affinity between Solzhenitsyn's positive ideas and those of people such as E. F. Schumacher (Small Is Beautiful). The critique of Enlightenment progressivism and positivism isn't detailed, but there's enough to remind me of writers as otherwise diverse as Phillip Sherrard (The Eclipse of Man and Nature), Russell Kirk, and the author of Ideas Have Consequences. I was also reminded a little of C. S. Lewis's prophetic novel That Hideous Strength, where Lewis presents a distinction between Britain and Logres, as I read Solzhenitsyn as quoted by Pearce, on the souls of nations. Familiarity with these writers -- who are often not known, or well known, to persons who presume to speak of their ideas -- can help one to understand where Solzhenitsyn is coming from.

Alenandr Solzenitsyn is a man certainly worthy of full scale treatment by a biographer. DM Thomas' biography a couple of years ago was strangely unmoving,and barely mentioned Solzenitsyn's religious views, which are at the core of his beliefs. At one time.AI solzenitsyn was the darling of the right in America,a virulent anti-communist who scorned ANYTHING resembling a welfare state{his attacks on free-market capitalism was soft pedalded by these same people}.Slowly, though, he became more and more removed from the centre of attention, and his novels became more and more obscure{and ,truth be told,rambling and quite boring.The red wheel trilogy...}This Biography places solzenitsyn's religious beliefs front and centre and the core of his being{and the reason he was able to survive the hell of the gulag}. While these are quite interesting, and really have rarely been covered in the West, Solzenitsyn's disdain for the West, his dismissal of pope John Paul II during and audience,his Tsarist tendencies and his almost messianic xenonphobia are not touched{though all are of one piece.] Solzenitsyn in many ways reminds me of Gandhi{without the charm}: wanting Holy Mother Russia to rise again to her greatness without the taint of western Decadence through a spiritual revolution. While he is a moral giant and an extraordiany example of the resilience of the human spirit, he is not served well by fawning, uncritical praise. Alexandr I solzhenitsyn deserves a full ,massive critical biography covering all of his life{his return to Russia has been bittersweet,his tv show was canceled for LACK OF INTEREST.Amazing how short peoples memories are!} This is one small step in the process. Interesting,but...

Solzhenitsyn: A Soul In Exile is a new biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn portraying a complex man of integrity and faith, and whose anti-materialist stance and call for a "moral revolution" are as relevant today as they were fifty years ago. Biographer Joseph Pearce reassess this influential Russian writer who gave voice to the more than sixty million victims of Soviet terror, and who won the Nobel Prize for "the ethical force" of his literary work. Even with the collapse of Communism, Solzhenitsyn continues to be an outspoken critic of Russian leadership's role in that country's economic collapse and consequent rise of lawlessness. This impressive, highly recommended biography showcases Solzhenitsyn's life and work as a courageous stand for truth rooted in Christian and moral beliefs as evidenced in his life, poetry, plays, novels, and pronouncements.

Solshenitzyn's "Rebuilding Russia" is a look past tradition and modern paganist values into the "how-to" of starting a nation/civilization from scratch. His analysis of the paralysis that afflicts modern Russian in every area is brilliant and his solutions apply not to just Russia but any nation that is experiencing broad social decline, which would include nearly every nation in the West. He starts with the correct premise that government is incapable of building any enduring civilization and, therefore, social structure always precedes political structure with the former a more fundamental entity. He also points out that any who cave-in to fleshly appetites will never rise from being mere beasts. Those who do this choose anarchy instead of order and peace. However, it has generally brought a mere "ho-hum" from the great in US society because Solshenitzyn starts from Judeo/Christian theism - an abomination to most here. He correctly sees that the battle for civilization has been lost in the United States because our nation has plunged into the tide of neo-paganism and has abandoned the foundations for a just and peaceful society. It is insufficient to save the environment, for example, if basic social order is collapsing, and in the end such a cause will merely be a stepping stone to tyranny. An excellent book that should be a best seller but most don't want to hear what Solshenitzyn has to say.

For lovers of Russian literature and history buffs, this is a terrific book! If you're not a fan of this genre, however, it's going to be ONE TOUGH READ. Solzhenitsyn throws in characters with machine-gun rapidity as well as hundreds of local historical references that will be lost on many folks simply eager to find out about a bit about one of the greatest writers of the century.

That having been said, this one is a winner. Rich description, lovely prose and Solzhenitsyn's obvious love for his homeland are woven into a terrific work that offers deep insights into the Russian view this tumultuous period in their history. For my money, the portion of the book dealing the desperate Russian army and their misguided leaders is Solzhenitsyn at his finest: brutally accurate and never lacking in a deeper understanding of the flawed human beings that made up the events.

This is a must read, but don't make it your first foray into Russian literature or Solzhenitsyn. Try a shorter, less complex work first and then move to this if you like the genre.

Solzhenitsyn's The Red Wheel, Knot I is an extraordinarily work. His attention to historical detail and ability to draw the reader into the mind of each character make this an extremely enjoyable reconstruction of this chaotic period in Russian history. Solzhenitsyn incorporates newspaper clippings, military communiqués, multiple character viewpoints including German, Russian, revolutionary, soldier, and student in an almost patchwork manner which conveys history's turbid nature. The author occasionally employs a screenplay method, which lends an interesting visual element to the book. Overall, the only comparable book I have read would be Tolstoy's War and Peace. Solzhenitsyn's The Red Wheel is not an "easy read", but I highly recommend it to anyone with some backround in Russian history (without which you may find yourself lost at times) and an interest in historical fiction. Read the "complete and unabridged" version to get the most out of this book.

August 1914 is a historical novel examining the causes for the decline of 19th Century aristocratic Russia to a 20th Century Russia of Socialist experimentation. Solzhenitsyn (AS) picks up his 20th Century analysis of Russia where Tolstoy left off his 19th Century point of view. This is a powerful novel displaying history, as it defines its causality. It grapples with the character of the Russian who is about to face revolutionary change which will deliver the country and its people from an agrarian peasant society to an industrialist monstrous social catastrophe. AS examines how and why Russia went socialist. For students of the French Revolution, August 1914 is another manifestation of how that earlier revolution influenced and occurred in Russia. For students interested in the transition of a culture from 19th Century behavior and values to extreme expiramental 20th political practices, this book is mandatory. August 1914 best demonstrates Henry Adams' forecast that the 19th century mode of life would change radically in the 20th century. AS' dynamo is a war, a romantic urge and a people who are ready for change and have the temperment to change as they did. This is truly an absorbing book and an important book to anyone interested in the influence of Russia in the 20th century. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in Russian history. In fact, it is a great place to start for anyone who is beginning a survey of Russia of history.