Reviews for Imagining the Nation

The average rating for Imagining the Nation based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-10 00:00:00 Jim Myers This is an interesting and informative account of the sea-based transportation system used by the Soviet Union to transfer gulag prisoners to the deadly and harsh Kolyma gold camps. For the prisoners, the trips were a grueling nightmare that many did not survive. Those who did related grim tales of mass rape, murder, and callous indifference to human life - all of which is no surprise to veteran Soviet geeks like myself. The author also discusses the ships themselves - their histories, their creators, and their ultimate fate (all but one no longer exist). Many ships were maintained by the US and Canadian ports during World War 2, courtesy of the taxpayer. Workers often reported horrid smells from the holds in the ships, such as burnt and decayed human flesh. The author estimated that well over a million prisoners were sent by ship to Kolyma, and around 100,000 or so perished in the camps. The writing is competent but not overly engaging, which prevented me from giving it four stars. But I'm glad I read it will keep and no doubt refer to it often.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-03-02 00:00:00 John Bradshaw There is an apocryphal story about Lenin, that he said that the capitalists would sell him the rope he would use to hang them. And then there is Ayn Rand's plea that we stop supporting our own destroyers. But this is what the United States actually did when it sold many of our old merchant ships to Stalin, not knowing he would use them to transport thousands of his Russian slaves from Vladivostok to the Kolyma forced labor camp on the Arctic Ocean.