Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile

by Joseph Pearce

Based on exclusive, personal interviews with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Pearce's book provides profound insight into a towering literary and political figure.

From his pro-Communist youth to his imprisonment in the Gulags, his exile in America to his return to Russia, this is the story of a man who struggled with the most weighty questions of humanity. When a person has suffered the most terrible physical and emotional torture, what becomes of his spirit? Can politics and economics truly provide the answers a modern society needs? If peace and justice are never fully attained, what hope is there for the future?

Arguably one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century, Solzhenitsyn, both before and after the fall of Communism, spoke out against the Russian regime. His faith deeply informed his literary approach and response to the excesses of modern materialism. On the spiritual, cultural, and socio-political level, his writings have much to teach the world.

This biography contains previously unpublished prose poems written by Solzhenitsyn after his return to Russia, and a gallery of rare photographs.

Genres: Biography, Russia, Nonfiction, History, Christianity, Biography Memoir, Politics

471 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR

Joseph Pearce (born 1961) is an English-born writer, and as of 2004 Writer in Residence and Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida; previously he had a comparable position, from 2001, at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is known for a number of literary biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views, and now writes from a Catholic perspective. He is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an excellent book. I grew up during the Cold War years and remember when A. Solzhenitsyn was a controversial figure, speaking out against Communism. I read his book The Gulag Archipelago many years ago and was so moved by the suffering described in that account of Solzhenitsyn's years in the Soviet camps and his perspective that suffering can be a means of cleansing the soul. Joseph Pearce's bio details Solzhenitsyn's initial embracing of the Bolshevik Revolution and the tenets of Communism and his journey to discovering the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of both. While Solzhenitsyn was a young officer during WWII, he began to comprehend some of the atrocities that Stalin was using against his own people, and wrote a letter in which he carelessly criticized the government and Stalin. This was the basis for his arrest and his sentencing to 7 years in the gulag/camps. During those years, he traveled full circle back to his Russian Orthodox roots and became convinced that any people, individually or collectively, that did not have a spiritual and moral underpinning, were destined for inner bankruptcy. He became a very vocal dissident via his writings ... challenging the claims of Communism and calling for reforms that allowed Russia to go back to its Christian roots. Finally he was arrested, accused of treason, and exiled from Russia.
The fact that he lived to witness the fall of Communism and return to Russia where his citizenship was reinstated was nothing short of miraculous. His writings during his exile and after his return to Russia were always stirring up controversy. He had as much criticism to deal out to the West with its unbridled capitalism, as he did for Communism. Even some of his adversaries had admiration for him, however. One of his adversaries wrote this about Solzhenitsyn,"In its own way, it is, I feel a courageous and dignified role- to be one of the last remaining prophets of Apollo in the abandoned temple of absolute truth." A fitting tribute to one who certainly was a voice crying in the wilderness calling men back to moral and spiritual truth.

[Charles Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I got on Kindle. It's probably a book I would never have bought in another format because it was not a subject of burning interest. But now that I have I have a lot more respect for Solzhenitsyn than I did before. I think it goes hand in hand with having read Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. Together I'm getting a much greater understanding of the horror of Soviet society.
Joseph Pearce obviously loved Solzhenitsyn and that may be the one flaw of the book. He doesn't really explore the criticism hurled against his subject. On the other hand, considering the life Solzhenitsyn led, maybe personal criticism was not necessary. I deeply appreciated how he brings out Solzhenitsyn's deep spiritual life and how he began to view that in terms of not just something private but also a vision for a better world. I would say anyone who is interested in freedom should read this. I would also say that every atheist interested in freedom should read this. You'll have a whole new perspective on what state atheism looked like.

[Francisco Seguí · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a great book! The author makes an awesome job in depicting Solzhenitsyn’s life an how his views evolved from being a soviet marxist, to converting to a profound and convinced christian. Pearce makes a very good job in describing this journey. The author is also able to summarize in a concise and meaningful way Solzhenitsyn’s profound and sharp thoughts. Solzhenitsyn is above all a seeker of truth, a person who developed a righteous conscience and fought for awakening his country and humanity’s moral. He opposed materialism, both in the form of the soviet communist tyrannic regime (after reading Gulag Archipelago there is no way to refute this historical truth), as well as the shallow hedonistic consumerism that the West fell into. Solzhenitsyn is a modern prophet, who warns humanity of the risks of falling into materialism and forgetting about the spiritual nature of mankind. Solzhenitsyn asks for a return of humanity to God and an objective moral. Thanks Solzhenitsyn for your brave life, you definitively made a difference and your voice still resonates today!! Thanks Pearce for this great biography which helps share out Solzhenitsyn’s life and the wisdom he has to offer to today’s world.

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much by reading this and as always, Mr. Pearce is a pleasure to read.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a summary of a biography than a biography. The writing was clear and straightforward. Not a difficult biography, but not particularly engaging, either. I felt that the biographer inserted his own highly pro-Christian opinion too much for my taste.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joseph Pearce’s Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile is a unique biography of Solzhenitsyn, its author given the rare opportunity of interviewing the man in the flesh, after he had returned to a Russia between Gorbachev and Putin. Pearce and Solzhenitsyn were drawn together through their mutual love of GK Chesteron, and Pearce believes it was his promise to focus on Solzhenitsyn’s spiritual grounding that convinced the somewhat reclusive author to give him a chance. Solzhenitsyn was not born a critic of the Soviet state; as a young man, he freely joined the Soviet army, and was even approached with the offer of joining the NKVD, the predecessor of the KGB. Some mysterious reservation kept Solzhenitsyn from saying aye, and later on a slight criticism of Stalin was enough to land the young soldier in the gulag system. There, the errant soldier grew in the course of eight years into a philosopher and an implacable critic of the Soviet state. who turned his talents to not only condemning the evils of the Soviet government, but to defending the best in humanity and his own Russian heritage.

In prison, Solzhenitsyn realized how little possessions have to do with a good life, and even out of it he maintained a very simple domicile — keeping in mind, perhaps, Ivan Denisovich’s observation that “The belly is an ungrateful wretch; it never remembers past favors, it always wants more tomorrow.” Solzhenitsyn became deeply religious during his prison years despite his upbringing, and it was that which informed his critique of the his prison years despite his upbringing, and it was that which informed his critique of the materialism that dominated both the socialist east and the more open, capitalist west. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Solzhenitsyn was vindicated – but not especially delighted at the result, given Russians’ wholesale embrace of the worst of the west, its crime and gaudy consumerism. To Solzhenitsyn, western materialism and Soviet materialism were two halves of the same coin; both ignored the inner life of man to feed only his appetites. Those appetites, however, would not be satiated: no one ever consumed their way to lasting contentment. Solzhenitsyn thus urged Russians to think deeply about how to use this opportunity to re-order society, drawing on its own traditions and other democratic thought. He put forth a vision very similar to the distributism of GKC and Hillaire Belloc, with links to E.F. Schumacher’s small is beautiful and Swiss political organization. (Pearce was converted to Catholicism after becoming enamored of GKC and Belloc’s socio-economic thinking.) Reading Ivan Deniscovich and experiencing the absolute poverty in which Solzhenitsyn lived for eight years made me better appreciate his turn towards a simple life in the decades that followed his freedom.

[Allen Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many people are unfamiliar with Solzhenitsyn these days, but in the later part of the 20th century he was a bestselling author who brought to life the tales of the millions of victims of Communist tyranny. Solzhenitsyn risked his life to document the real life stories of those innocents who lived and often died under the tyranny of Communism. His life is heroic and proof that the pen can be mightier than the sword. Even in the closed society of Soviet Russia his words shook the foundation of the Communist regime. He was deemed such a threat that he was forcibly exiled and lived many years in the United States.

Literary critic and biographer Joseph Pearce brings to life this intellectual giant whose anti-Communism gained him support from many left-wing elites until he became a critic of the relativism and runaway materialism of Western society. Pearce explains Solzhenitsyn's ideas as he weaves his personal life and his writings into an enlightening biography of a moral giant. Along the way, Pearce shows that those who typecast Solzhenitsyn as a Orthodox reactionary were and are wrong.

This biography is beautifully written and will interest anyone who wants to understand the world we live in. In addition it shows how one man can make a difference

[Lara Blasberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best biography I've read, and I could never tell if Pearce was trying to unwind the story of a fascinating life or champion pseudo-religious global tyranny. Either way, I have conflicted perspectives on Solzhenitsyn: part kindred spirit, part jilted choir boy. On the one hand, he shares my disdain for the false dichotomy of left vs. right, and motivation for a higher binding strong enough to overturn the impending ecological doom. On the other, he turns me off with his romanticization of peasantry, (worse) nationalism, and (worst) the supposed spiritual purity and endurance of The Church. Well, huh, guess I better try one of his actual books.

[John Sagherian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading “Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile”. I enjoy reading biographies, especially when they are well written, like this one by Joseph Pearce. Solzhenitsyn was an intellectual, literary and spiritual giant, who had the courage to live out and speak his convictions. He was vilified and/or ignored both in his native Russia and in the West where he was exiled for a while. As Pearce concludes, “Solzhenitsyn is paradox personified: a pessimistic optimist”. If you like reading biographies, I recommend this book to you.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know until I discovered Joseph Pearce that Solzhenitsyn was a convert to Orthodox Christianity. Nor did I know that it was extremely rare for him to grant interviews, much less those of an in depth biographical nature. The fact that Solzhenitsyn granted an interview to Mr. Pearce (whose own background is fascinating) is part of what makes this book so special. Additionally, very few who wrote about Solzhenitsyn focused on or ever even mentioned his conversion.

I'm not sure how Solzhenitsyn's life story could not be fascinating or interesting, regardless of its author, but Joseph Pearce as a Catholic convert chronicles with particular beauty the slow conversion of Mr. Solzhenitsyn over the course of his time imprisoned by the Soviets. His conversion is also the thread woven through the biography that holds it together, and ultimately what holds Solzhenitsyn and his life (and soul) together.

As am ambitious young reader I'd set out to read The Gulag Archipelago in about the six grade, after eyeing it on my parents' bookshelf for years. I bit off more than I could chew and probably it is a good thing I gave up on the endeavor. Scenes of the horror of the Gulag system that I could not have digested at that age are interspersed in the biography, most notably of course Solzhenitsyn's and those he witnessed.

The seeking of a man of faith in search of the soul of another man of faith, both of whom witnessed and participated in tragic historical events, it a thing of beauty.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book opened with comments from his critics, calling Solzhenitsyn a pessimist. As his story unfolds, it's understandable that he would be, even though that accusation is a bit of a mischaraterization. Being unfairly imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag system would typically be a soul-crushing spirit-breaker for most people. However, Solzhenitsyn managed to come out of it even stronger and with a greater perspective than when he went in. Yet, he was still constrained by a system whose sole purpose was to keep people down. When he was able to leave the Soviet Union, rather than being embraced, he faced two does - those Soviet sympathisers who refused to believe his accounts and those decadent westerners who refused to hear his pleas to abandon their apathy and excess materialism. Neither side understood that he was pleading with them from a position of objective truth, grounded in his faith. It was this faith that enabled him to persevere and to ultimately have optimism.

Well written, Pearce interacts well with historical records, Solzhenitsyn's writings, and with interviews of Solzhenitsyn and his family.

[Jeremy Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written, thoroughly researched, insightful, engaging, and satisfying biography of one of 20th-century's most significant figures. Solzhenitsyn was a real-life Winston (from Orwell's 1984), whose life and legacy testifies to the evils engineered by communist ideology. Alongside Soviet materislism, Solzhenitsyn also criticizes Western decadence, placing humanity's only hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pearce is a skilled writer and biographer, and this book gives a comprehensive and accurate introduction to the man and work. I highly recommend this book.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. This was a wonderfully written biography and a great insight to an amazing man. I remember when Solzhenitsyn moved to the U.S. and so much press about him before and after. I am glad I got to hear about his life from him and from those who supported and opposed him. This was a second edition by Joseph Pearce. He did a great job in revealing this man.

[Aasin Peña · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading this book if I could summarize Alexander Solzhenitsyn´s life on one sentence I would say this ; Beating a dead horse. There is no easier way to describe it. Yes I know he fought in the Great Patriotic War. Yes I know he suffered for many years afterwards in the Gulag. Yes I get it I get it completely. Did he however need to spend every waking moment of the rest of his life reminding us of it? Do I need to be reminded in nearly every book he had written of how bad the Gulag´s were or of how bad the USSR was in general? Apparently Solzhenitsyn thinks I need to know this, and need to get this beaten down into my memory. How about what he thought of the West then? Solzhenitsyn has some gripes about life in the West too it seems as in the case where he criticizes the BBC of not doing enough to help suffering Christians in the USSR. His criticism of Great Britain got so bad that the Prime Minister had to personally come out, and say he was not interested in anything Solzhenitsyn had to say! After reading this book it becomes clear that nobody can do anything right according to Solzhenitsyn, and because of this the book soon became a chore to read as the reader goes from one complaint to another from the man.

Worse yet is how the author of the biography Joseph Pearce´s handles the whole affair. From the very first page we see Pearce describe the USSR in what I have to say is nothing short of pure hatred of the country. The USSR, similar to how Solzhenitsyn thinks, can do nothing right in the eyes of Pearce, and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING they do is terrible. Yes before anyone mentions it again I do know that Solzhenitsyn suffered under the Gulag system as I was reminded of that every few pages or so from the book.

In stark contrast to the USSR, Pearce writes of Solzhenitsyn as if the man can do no wrong. Everything Solzhenitsyn does is pure, and with no malice including with the very thing that got him sent to the Gulag in the first place. Say what you want about the Gulag, but any officer of the Red Army, or any army in the world for that matter knows that you are NOT ALLOWED to participate in political activities. Of course Solzhenitsyn did not obey this order, and got in big trouble for it. Before you decry me for saying soldiers do not have free speech go up to any soldier in any country you deem democratic, and ask them if they can do anything political while doing their service. Let me give you some advice though, I know about this from experience myself.

These are just some of the many times that Pearce finds excuses to justify Solzhenitsyn such as in his actions in marrying his first wife twice including stealing her from another man just to subsequently forget about her, and then of all things to accuse her of working for the KGB! No proof is ever shown however other than some hearsay on how she married a man from the KGB later on in life.

If you still doubt what I say then wait until you hear Pearce belittle Henry Kissinger because he was somewhat wary of Solzhenitsyn. Perhaps Kissinger was somewhat wary of Solzhenitsyn because of his anti-semitism. The evidence exists particular in his book ¨200 Years¨ in which he speaks rather unfavorably about the Jews. The book attempts to address this fact by basically quoting Solzhenitsyn in saying that the critics are wrong. That´s basically it. Kissinger, a Jew himself, has every right to be wary. Pearce of course ignores all this, tells the reader that everyone, but Solzhenitsyn is wrong, and then quickly moves on.

Throughout the biography, Pearce fails to keep an unbiased view of Solzhenitsyn, and instead showers him with praise whenever possible. Pearce even mentions the “growing list of foes” that Solzhenitsyn has, but like everything else, Solzhenitsyn is right, and everybody else is wrong. Solzhenitsyn wrote some good books, but as a man he must have been terrible to have around. What is most ironic is how after the USSR collapses, after all the freedoms that were denied in the USSR became open to the people, and all that Solzhenitsyn had complained about not having now being allowed, Solzhenitsyn continues to complain. He decries the decadence of the West despite being allowed to live in Vermont for a good chunk of his life. He also of course complains about life in Russia after being freed from communism. Absolutely nothing can make this man happy. Pearce apparently realizes this late in the book as he spends a whole chapter dealing with how a lot, and I mean a lot people think he is a pessimist. Of course as usual Pearce´s response to this is that they are all wrong, and Solzhenitsyn is absolutely right.

I could go on, and on, but by now I hope you get the point, and avoid this book entirely. If still I have not convinced you to avoid this book, and hopefully this author in your future reading endeavours let me add this one little piece of information from the book.

Pearce compares Solzhenitsyn to Jesus Christ himself.

Let that sink in.

[George P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The centennial of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s birth passed in 2018 with surprisingly little fanfare. Perhaps this reflects contemporary culture’s obsession with the present and forgetfulness regarding the past. Perhaps it reflects elite ambivalence about the author, whose critique of Soviet crimes was accepted but whose critique of Western moral relativism was rejected.

Whatever the reason Solzhenitsyn’s centennial was largely passed over, I decided on December 11, 2018—his one hundredth birthday—to reacquaint myself with the man and his writings in 2019. My first stop was the revised and updated edition of Joseph Pearce’s Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile. The first edition was published in 1999 after Solzhenitsyn turned eighty. This edition appeared in 2011, three years after his death.

Unlike other Solzhenitsyn scholars, Pearce does not speak or read Russian. His biography is therefore dependent on other scholars who do, such as Michael Scammel’s 1985 Solzhenitsyn: A Biography, and English translations of Solzhenitsyn’s work by various scholars. The core of Pearce’s original research is his extended interview with the author in Moscow in 1998, which was simultaneously translated by Solzhenitsyn’s son Yermolai. Insights from this interview are scattered throughout the book.

Despite Pearce’s dependence on other Russian-literate scholars, I found Pearce’s biography helpful for three basic reasons. First, it summarized the events of Solzhenitsyn’s life from birth to death. As far as I can tell, this is the only English-language biography to do so currently in print. That in and of itself is helpful.

Second, it highlights the spiritual and moral vision at the core of Solzhenitsyn’s literary output. This vision runs through the center of Solzhenitsyn’s critique of Soviet crimes, of Western moral relativism, and of political and social developments in post-Soviet Russia. To understand Solzhenitsyn, Pearce argues, one must understand his Russian Orthodox faith. Pearce demonstrates how that worldview shaped Solzhenitsyn’s views on history, society, politics, and economics.

Third, Pearce shines a sympathetic light on the controversies that began to engulf Solzhenitsyn once he was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974, controversies that dog his reputation to the present day. While praising Solzhenitsyn’s pre-exile dissidence, Western authors—and some Russian authors—continue to portray Solzhenitsyn as illiberal, authoritarian, nationalistic, and anti-Semitic. Pearce makes a strong case that these portraits misinterpret Solzhenitsyn.

For me, the key test of a biography is twofold: Did it get its facts straight, and did it make me more interested in the subject as a result of reading it. By that test, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile succeeds. Next up for me: A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn’s first book, the one that established his literary reputation.

Book Reviewed
Joseph Pearce, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile, rev. and updated ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011).

P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book hooked me from the start. I read it in just a few weeks which is fast for me! Appreciated the deep historical insight into the Soviet Union and life in it, and was challenged by Solzhenitsyn's life and commitment to historical truth. Amazing what an impact one man's writing can have, especially if that man is willing to endure significant slander and suffering for it. This is a book I won't forget.

[Marc Watt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solztenhitsyn is not only one of my favorite writers.. He is one of the most fascinating historical figures I have encountered. He is fearless, honest, and humbly questions his own moral trusths. The man is incredible.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, informative biography, neither too long nor too short. It provides a decent overall picture of Solzhenitsyn’s life and views. As an ambitious, intellectually gifted young man Solzhenitsyn held surprisingly naïve views on Marxism and Soviet system. He was arrested for writing a pamphlet in which he advocated even more communism than the Soviet government felt was necessary. Spending years in the labor camps and recovering from cancer, he learned about importance of suffering for personal development, humble attitude towards life and role of religion. After his release, he again drifted into naïve nonsense, only of the opposite type. He began to idealize poor agricultural societies and premodern era because they supposedly enable idyllic pastoral democracy and extraordinary spiritual life.

There are some parts of the book which could be a bit more detailed, mostly his relationships with other Soviet intellectuals and dissidents and his general philosophical development. Solzhenitsyn alienated a lot of his early supporters and his later views and comments on contemporary politics drew numerous criticisms. Pearce obviously admires Solzhenitsyn, shares most of his ideological opinions, and is quite unwilling to address criticisms seriously. He doesn’t give them much space and they are almost always presented as misunderstandings of his real positions, or as mean-spirited attacks by envious individuals or brash atheists, while Solzhenitsyn’s opinions are just assumed to be correct. The reader can still get a decent picture of such controversies, because Pearce at least mentions them as they happened. While not a definitive, unbiased biography it is still informative and worth reading.

[Sergio Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A veces podría parecer que no soy muy crítico con los libros. La verdad es que mis calificaciones se basan más en sí me ha aportado algo el libro o, si me ha hecho pasar un buen rato.

Esta biografía tuvo de todo. Me dio a conocer la gran figura que es Solzhenitsyn: incomprendida y sumamente menospreciada.

Lo que tanto critica Solzhenitsyn (la modernidad y sus grandes defectos), ha causado un gran revuelo y creo que lo que nos falta como sociedad es una clase autoevaluación.

Muchas veces nos preguntamos ¿por qué en el mundo hay tantos problemas? Y creo que me quiero quedar con unas cuantas ideas de Solzhenitsyn.

"La gente habla de derechos humanos, pero no de obligaciones humanas". "El ser humano es más que lo físico; su espíritu es lo único que le queda y que lo eleva".

Hace falta que volvamos a ver a la persona de forma integral, no sólo en su apariencia y en su éxito en el mundo. La grandeza de las personas está en su espíritu y en no dejarse llevar por la corriente.

Cómo dice Chesterton: "Las cosas muertas van con la corriente, las vivas van contracorriente". No porque el mundo sea de una forma o que algo "sea legal", es bueno para el mundo.

Hace falta una cruzada del hombre contra si mismo. Que indague cada quien en lo que es el hombre y en aquello que lo rebaja a ser una simple máquina. Busquemos no ser conformistas y luchar por aquellos que amamos, sin importar que no veamos luz. Si no hay luz, ¡sé la luz!

[Dylan Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solzhenitsyn was a prophet. I don’t see how anyone could deny that. Most of his energy was spent calling out the spiritual emptiness of Communism/atheism, but (just my personal opinion), I think God raised up Solzhenitsyn to give prophetic warning to the West. Living in the West almost 50 years after his infamous Harvard speech, it seems to me that his discernment of moral bankruptcy here was spot on.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from this book:

“The moral essence of humanity has been forgotten so that now for the past few decades the most fashionable slogan is human rights: But human obligations, human duties people forget. You cannot have rights without obligations. They must be in balance, if indeed obligations are not to be greater. Just as it is impossible to say to myself that I will breathe with my left lung but I will not breathe with my right – they both need to work together – in such a way, duty and obligation and right must go together. Our situation has become so twisted that we now even have the expression that there is an ideology of human rights. And what is that? That is anarchism, known for a long time, and so we are moving towards this anarchism.” p.301

[Drake Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Pearce provides an engaging read of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's life. It reads easily yet contains a lot of information. One of the hallmarks of the book were the lengthy quotes. This will allow a first time reader of Solzhenitsyn's writing to grasp what he is saying.

At times, though, I was left wondering if more sources could have been used. Pearce's footnotes that are found at the end of chapters shows that he favors one source at times rather than many as he portrays Solzhenitsyn. Pearce's work is not a copy of another's, but I would have liked to see more interaction at times.

Solzhenitsyn's viewpoint is important for our day. With much of the western world considering ideas that would be considered communist or greedy, his perspective argues for a middle road. Pearce's book effectively shows how Solzhenitsyn deserves to be heard. I recommend it for a beginner to his life and thought world.

[Gonzaga Escauriaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es verdaderamente unos de los personajes más importantes del siglo XX.
Nunca pensé que era un personaje de esa categoría.

Su fe, su amor a la verdad y a Rusia le dieron fuerzas para luchar contra el mayor de los dragones del siglo XX.

Nunca tuvo miedo de enfrentarse al partido comunista y a la URSS entera con tal de que la verdad brillase por encima de todo y de que los rusos pudiesen declarar su fe en la Iglesia Ortodoxa.
Yo no he leído ninguno de sus libros pero supongo que nunca es tarde para leerlos.

Me ha encantado el libro. Todo lo que he leído de Joseph Pearce me ha gustado. Es de mis escritores favoritos. Siempre es ameno y trata los temas con mucho respeto y con mucha ponderación. También busca la verdad, como Solzhenitsyn.

[David Schuster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biographies are tricky, especially when you've got an angle on a guy. You can beleaguer a point very easily just by trying to segue your way through the life of the subject. Our author managed to avoid that peril, using just enough "hey, this is an example of what I've been saying" to keep it from being a series of disconnected events.

Also, fascinating guy, this Solzhenitsyn. Seems to have been one of the largest causes for the collapse of communism in Russia! I dog-eared lots of pages. Key themes: self-limitation is key to growth of oneself. And always hope in God, even when you're griping about how humans keep mucking everything up.

[Spencer Willardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had an affinity for Solzhenitsyn since my early 20s when I read Gulag Archipelago after returning from my two year mission in Ukraine. One of my investigators there told me that I needed to read Solzhenitsyn to understand modern Ukraine.

I have read many of his other books as well. However, this biography of his that focuses on his inward conversion to Christianity, his reaction to what was happening around him in his personal life, and the motivation behind his writing and his research really made me appreciate him more. He was a literary prophet, seeing and making bare truths that those in power didn't want to see. I found much to admire in the man, which makes his writing that much richer.

[NCHS Library]

From the Publisher
Profound insight into a towering literary and political figure from his pro-Communist youth to his imprisonment in the Gulags, his exile in America to his return to Russia, this is the story of a man who struggled with the most weighty questions of humanity. When a person has suffered the most terrible physical and emotional torture, what becomes of his spirit? Can politics and economics truly provide the answers a modern society needs? If peace and justice are never fully attained, what hope is there for the future?

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn was a giant: this biography emphasises the role his Christian faith played in his courageous life. I find the scale and brutality of Stalin's Russia almost impossible to fathom and this book is a useful reminder of what life was like under communism. Solzhenitsyn's integrity was unshakeable with the result that he offended the West as much as he had offended his home country.

[Foreign Grid]

"Alexander Solzhenitsyn, according to Joseph Pearce, has too often been stereotyped as a prophet of doom, a pessimist, someone out of touch with reality, and irrelevant. "

Sounds like me on a Monday.

"paradox personified: the pessimistic optimist."

Me during the rest of the week.

[Aidan Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cunning read! I really loved this book and I really love Solzhenitsyn! Def made me want to read and appreciate more of his life and work. Throughout his crazy ass life, he managed to sew a very rich and complex literary web that is constantly revealing itself in fantastic ways.

[Michael Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joseph Pearce has written a personal, and understandable book on a very complicated man. His ability to meet with Alexander personally to obtain the content for this book is what sets it apart.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like Pearce was constantly on the cusp of a good biography, but he never fully got inside Solzhenitsyn's head. I was left wondering on many points.