It’s not a happy book, but it’s an important book, covering a state-created famine that killed around four million people in Ukraine in the 1930s. For me, as a person whose relatives suffered in this disaster, it was very difficult to read this book. Ann Applebaum does not disappoint. But as you see them starting to line up to create such a horrific disaster, they suddenly aren’t boring. A comprehensive criticism is presented by Michael Ellman in the article "Stalin and the Soviet Famine of 1932–33 Revisited" published in the journal Lesa Melnyczuk Morgan concludes her in-depth study, 'Remember the peasantry: A study of genocide, famine, and the Stalinist This is followed up with details on the subsequent cover-up, the intellectual dishonesty/laziness that allowed Western historians to lump any references to it as fascism or Naziism (some things never change), and the post-Cold War struggles to get at the truThis is an exhaustively researched review of the Holodomor which starts with the 1921 famine, caused by a combination of collectivization and natural events under Lenin, then details the events that led to the Stalin-caused famine of '32-33. Very insightful book, specifically due to highly vivid and thorough description of the pre-history starting from 1917 and the reasons which led to the famine. . There were sections that were extremely difficult to work through regarding the horrors and depravities that took place during the famine, so reader (or listener) be warned. Because just as you almost lose the personal aspect of the tragedy as it discusses this many tons of grain exported vs. produced, or the tax rate reduced or increased, or who is or is not a kulak, Applebaum includes brief personal testimonies of loss, hunger, and death. The book was at many times shocking to read. The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомо́р ; [a] derived from морити голодом , moryty holodom , 'to kill by starvation') was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians . It is about the repression of the Ukrainian intellectual and political class, of the Sovietisation of Ukraine, the collectivisation of agriculture and the attempts to wipe out Ukrainian culture and language. Алма-Ата, 1989. The deaths weren’t caused by a drought, but by forced collectivization of farms, then a Soviet plan to export grain to gain foreign currency, then a series of confiscations that left peasants with nothing to eat. It also covers the Ukrainian War of Independence (1917-1921), the resistance of the Ukrainian peasantry to collectivization of agriculture in 1931, the attack on the use of the Ukrainian language and the elimination of the Ukrainian intellectual classes that coincided with the famine, the subsequent purge of the Ukrainian communist party, the cover-up that followed and the active assistance of Western journalists in the cover-up.A wrenching and thorough account of the way Stalin created the famine that killed easily 3.5 million Ukrainians, and maybe far more. The 1933 harvest was poor, coupled with the extremely high quota level, which led to starvation conditions. How a totalitarian regime can justify any cruelty, normalize the killing of millions of people in the name of a certain ideology. Despite this tragic history and subsequent struggles, the Ukraine stands today as an independent nation.This is the first book I’ve read by Applebaum, and I’m impressed. This is an exhaustively researched review of the Holodomor which starts with the 1921 famine, caused by a combination of collectivization and natural events under Lenin, then details the events that led to the Stalin-caused famine of '32-33. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Welcome back. The shortages were blamed on kulak sabotage, and authorities distributed what supplies were available only in the urban areas. The former describes ideal communism; the latter describes the realities of communist policies and dictators.

It is about the repression of the Ukrainian intellectual and political class, of the Sovietisation of Ukraine, the collectivisation of agriculture and the attempts to wipe out Ukrainian culture and language. This is difficult material to read and it is easy to get numb to the extent of the crimes involved here. Starting with the Russian Civil War that followed World War I, the author looks at the Ukrainian desire for independence and why Ukraine had never been able to obtain that independence. It would be easy to get bored with the minute details of political maneuverings and numerous military campaigns in the beginning chapters of this book. Faced with these “threats,” Soviet leaders were reluctant to make the USSR appear weak by admitting the famine and importing a lot of food, both of which they had done repeatedly earlier.

Not just the man made famine that Stalin caused with his policies but also the various means of oppression that the Communists implemented against Ukraine.

Although this book is about the ‘Holodomor’ (the word is derived from the Ukrainian words, ‘holod’ or ‘hunger’ and ‘mor’ or extermination) or famine of 1932-33, it is actually about much more than that. Superb panorama and the background. The former describes ideal communism; the latter describes the realities of communist policies and dictators. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of It is one of the most devastating episodes in the history of the twentieth century. Just yesterday I was having a discussion with someone in a college campus and the student went on a tangent to talk about how being in the Soviet Union is better than being in America today. Instead, they become creepingly chilling. The Soviet authorities were determined not only that Ukraine should abandon its national aspirations, but that the country's true history should be buried along with its millions of victims. There have been books dedicated to the famine in Russia, and other parts of the Soviet Union, but not one that focuses explicitly on Ukraine. Meticulously researched, detailed, accessible and often shocking, this is essential reading for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia, the relationship between the two countries and the current tense situation.

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