The Gates of Hell

by Harrison E. Salisbury

x

Genres: Historical Fiction, Soviet Union, Fiction

439 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1975

About the author

Harrison E. Salisbury was a long time reporter and editor at The New York Times. Earlier in his career he had worked for the United Press, which he joined after earning a B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1930. He began his career in journalism as a part-time reporter for the Minneapolis Journal during 1928-29. Although he served in many different positions and places during his long career at the Times, Mr. Salisbury is perhaps most famous for his work as Moscow correspondent, covering the U.S.S.R. during the early years of the Cold War. After serving as the Times' Moscow Bureau Chief from 1949 to 1954, he returned to the U.S. and wrote a series of articles for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1955. He spent a great deal of time concentrating on Asia during his later years at the Times, covering the Vietnam War as well as many different issues and events having to do with China.

Reviews

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually the story of Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer, in novel form. I did some research and the main character's life matches that of Solzhenitsyn. It is a long read, but one that seems to accurately portray life in Russian during the decades from the 30s to the 70s, especially life under Stalin. It covers his service in the army during WWII, his arrest and imprisonment. Discusses his two wives and his writings.

[Rick]

Interesting- fiction set in the time after the Russian revolution. The story of a Russian boy as he grows, ages. He gets arrested and imprisoned for much of his life, ultimately becoming a writer. A peek into communism/socialism of the early 20th century.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalist Harrison Salisbury lived in the USSR for decades, and his understanding of the dysfunctional Soviet culture shines through in this novel, whose main character is an expy of Aleksandyr Solzhenitsyn.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life of a Russian writer from the Revolution when he was a small boy to the time of Brezhnev when he is exiled. Stages of the writer's life alternate with the "present day" preparatins of Andropov, head of the secret police, for a Politburu meeting. The story develops well and the characters feel credible. The best feature is how it felt in those days both for dissidents and guys like Andropov, and how it changed over time. The writer believes for most of the book that things went to hell when Stalin took over. He ends up understanding that Lenin set the stage.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Details of life in the Stalinist era of the former Soviet Union come to life through the eyes of a dissident writer. This is a tense and riveting read.

[Vadim Erenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely read fiction but this book was great. It may have started of slow, but towards the end I could not put it down.

[Veronica Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

(B)