The Forsaken: From the Great Depression to the Gulags - Hope and Betrayal in Stalin's Russia
Author(s): Tim Tzouliadis
Of all the great movements of population to and from the United States, the least heralded is the migration, in the depths of the Depression of the nineteen-thirties, of thousands of men, women and children to Stalin's Russia. Where capitalism had failed them, Communism promised dignity for the working man, racial equality, and honest labour. What in fact awaited them, however, was the most monstrous betrayal. In a remarkable piece of historical investigation that spans seven decades of political change, Tim Tzouliadis follows these thousands from Pittsburgh and Detroit and Los Angeles, as their numbers dwindle on their epic and terrible journey. Through official records, memoirs, newspaper reports and interviews he searches the most closely guarded archive in modern history to reconstruct their story - one of honesty, vitality and idealism brought up against the brutal machinery of repression. His account exposes the self-serving American diplomats who refused their countrymen sanctuary, it analyses international relations and economic causes but also finds space to retrieve individual acts of kindness and self-sacrifice.
Product Information
** 'In this spellbinding book, Tim Tzouliadis brings to life an aspect of Stalin's Terror that had been almost completely forgotten' Roger Cox, THE SCOTSMAN ** 'In THE FORSAKEN, Tim Tzouliadis' clear, strong narrative discloses the terrible fates which awaited those who wandered into the Soviet sphere' John Lloyd, FINANCIAL TIMES ** 'This is an extremely impressive book. [Tzouliadis] has done phenomenal research...the writing is crisp and fluent, and the ordinary lives of these Americans come vividly to life; but at the same time the larger political framework is always present, lucidly outlined' Noel Malcolm, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ** 'A fine narrative, full of ironic, sometimes black humour; it is thoroughly researched, sympathetic to the victims and merciless to the perpetrators, and sketches in the now only too familiar background of lies and terror with deadly precision.' LITERARY REVIEW ** 'The author has done a superb job in telling this black tale with authority, sympathy and well-justified anger at those who, like Roosevelt, Wallace, the State Department and its minions, did nothing for the forsaken.' Peter Lewis, DAILY MAIL ** 'Tim Tzouliadis's excellent tome, THE FORSAKEN, warrants immediate attention... a remarkable account of the foreigners who worked, suffered and ultimately perished in the USSR...The grim nature of the material does not silence Tzouliadis's wonderfully descriptive voice ... An incisive and cogent read.' Julian Fleming, SUNDAY BUSINESS POST.
Tim Tzouliadis is a writer and filmmaker. Born in 1968, he read philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, and went on to pursue a career in television current affairs and documentary-making for Channel 4, BBC2, NBC and National Geographic Television.
General Fields
- :
- : Little, Brown
- : Little, Brown
- : December 2008
- : 234mm X 153mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : 16pp of b/w photos
- : Biography & autobiography; European history: from c 1900 -; Political oppression & persecution
- : 480
- : very good
- : 947.0842092
- : 1
- : Paperback
- : Tim Tzouliadis