Solzhenitsyn

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 This biography contains previously unpublished prose poems written by Solzhenitsyn after his return to Russia, and a gallery of rare photographs. Pearce has grasped with great insight the spiritual core of Solzhenitsyn's achievement as a writer, and indeed as a prophet to Russia and the world. He writes with warm sympathy for Russia's greatest literary voice in modern times. --David Aikman, Author, Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century Joseph Pearce is best on what matters most about Solzhenitsyn: the centrality of the author's Christian faith. It is no wonder that Solzhenitsyn chose to . . . provide Pearce with fresh information. Newcomers to Solzhenitsyn should start with this biography. They will find here a highly readable rendition of one of the most sensational lives of the twentieth century. --Edward E. Ericson Jr., Author, Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World