Fear no evil /

Soviet dissident Sharansky, a prisoner of the KGB for nearly a decade, vividly relates his story of isolation, torment, and survival, offering an inside look at the Soviet system of law and the horrors of a labor camp. [BKL My 15 88 Upfront]

Sharansky writes of the nine years he spent in the Soviet gulag. ``Told with remarkable calm, even with harrowing humor, Sharansky's gripping and deeply moving account of his prison years is a tribute to human resilience. His sheer courage and moral stature are matched only by his literary skill at conveying the nightmare he endured,'' praised PW . (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In 1977, Sharansky, a Jewish dissident, was arrested by the KGB on a charge of spying for the CIA. After 16 months of interrogation, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison, where he remained until 1986, when he was exchanged for a Soviet spy held by the United States. This is a riveting story, told directly and without self-pity, of the Soviet Union's attempts to crush political opponents. Unlike many others, Sharansky retained a sense of self by refusing to acknowledge that physical domination implied moral superiority, an opposition symbolized by his refusal to give up his Psalm book. A compelling account of numbing privations, hunger strikes, and especially of courage, this book will have wide appeal. Scholars will also gain insight into the reformed, but essentially unchanged, post-Stalin KGB and penal bureaucracies. Mark C. Carnes, Barnard Coll., Columbia Univ. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.