Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Warning to the West: Examining the Political and Social Implications of His Writings

smudge: If ever a book needs to be re-read or an author revisited (the speeches were actually delivered in 1975) it is this by Solzhenitsyn. Politicians academics and students, especially in the US where Communism seems to be a cult movement need to understand and digest the message of this great, brave and wise man whose suffering at the hands of a perverse and perverted ideology was real. There is no excuse to ignore either the message or what gave rise to it and those who do should hang their heads in shame, if they have any. Freedom matters.

United Kingdom on Jul 12, 2023

R. Carl Wells: Americans would benefit from reading Warning to the West. We failed to learn from Solzhenitsyn, and the grim consequences are all around us.

United States on May 12, 2023

Eva Zielinska-Millar: The West should have listened to, memorised and taken to heart every word of these speeches from the moment they were uttered and the world would have been a better place instead of being ruled by a power crazed lunatic

United Kingdom on Mar 31, 2023

Sid Cundiff: This does NOT have the Harvard address. I does have 2 speeches to labor unions, which prove that Solzhenitsyn identified with blue collar folk. One speech is to the US Congress, one on the BBC, and one interview. All worth reading.

United States on Dec 16, 2022

Andreas Clever: I caught myself many times saying “this is exactly what is happening today”. Everyone should read this book to understand what we are moving towards.

United States on Oct 02, 2022

Lisa W: There is a wealth of information in this book, it's a real eye-opener on the relationship the West has had with Russia and even more relevant now.

United Kingdom on Jun 28, 2022

Michael Jones: I had read the gulag book and was horrified. I mean we all know that things went south in Russia for many years but wow. Anyway this book has some of the authors speeches very mind bending. Would recommend this for anyone who thinks this world is all good.

Canada on Oct 21, 2021

Amazon Customer: This was written 50 y/a and is happening now in the west though in a different way. He is the only one to write plainly about the extreme atrocities of the communist against all the opponents. The number of slaughtered people is mind boggling and the way they treated their prisoners absolutely appalling/blood chilling. It just tells you how low the human being can go, becoming an absolute savage/monster without any empathy. Unfortunately, most people do not know or care about this. Solzhenitsyn is a true genius of writing and the most eloquent voice against the communism and its utter depravity against the people.

Canada on Jul 26, 2021

Terry: He is not with us any more, but like most really great authors, he still is talking to us from his tomb.
Nobody listens because everybody is busy making money and living "la dolce vita". In my country they used to say "the Revolution is like a callous: you only feel it when they step on it". That's what always happens in communist societies. You may be the best "comrade" of them all, but as soon as the revolution takes something away from you, then you become a "contra". People don't read and, therefore, are ignorant from History. Because History ALWAYS repeats itself.

United States on Jul 05, 2021

Dr. C.H.E. Sadaphal: Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Here in Warning to the West, Mr. Solzhenitsyn alerts American and British audiences that “totalitarianism is coming.” As the author posits, the grand irony is that greater government control seduces the masses into thinking that “the State will save us” when in reality, it is the beast that will devour them. The hope is that the burden of slavish materialism can be shaken off by giving free reign to the spiritual life inherent to all human beings.

Speaking as a former prisoner in the Soviet gulag, the author contemplates the West’s future by looking back and seeing what happed in Russia’s past repeating itself in the then-present day (the 1970s). Solzhenitsyn’s words grab your ear with both hands and stir the soul. The most chilling aspect of his prophecy is that he describes the dominating “spirit of the age” with precision. History has therefore become a dutiful expositor of his words. So, for example (cf. pages 103 and 130), 50 years ago Solzhenitsyn explained the newspaper headlines of 2021: political upheaval, lionization of violent revolutionaries, cancel culture,...

United States on May 21, 2021