Winner of the 2013 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize, American Historical Association Winner of the 2011 Baker-Burton Award, European History Section of the Southern Historical Association Shortlisted for the 2013 Central Eurasian Studies Society Book Award "Death and Redemption is a well-written and provocatively argued book that all serious students of Soviet history will need to read and contemplate. Drawing from ... Read morea wide variety of Russian and Kazakh archives and displaying a firm command of the available primary and secondary sources, Barnes has clearly done his research and done it well. Barnes's focus on ideology is new and refreshing... [T]his book is a major achievement... Steven Barnes's monograph is quite simply the best introduction to the Gulag currently available."
Brian LaPierre, Russian Review "Barnes's Death and Redemption performs a timely and important service... In taking on the Gulag, perhaps the nadir of the Soviet experience, without ideological rancor, Barnes has made a significant contribution to Soviet history, and provided the interested general reader with a fascinating experience."
John Bokina, European Legacy "Steven Barnes' historical study of the Gulag practices of its prisoners' 're-education' and rehabilitation is a compelling contribution to the vast and continually expanding body of scholarly literature on the Stalinist era... I ought to conclude this review with commending and thanking the author for tackling a very difficult subject in a scholarly, objective and thought-provoking manner."
Elena Katz, Europe-Asia Studies "[T]his is an important book that should be widely read. Whether or not one fundamentally agrees with its interpretation of the Gulag and its place in Soviet society, this is a well-researched, original, and sophisticated work that challenges many long-held assumptions."
Alan Barenberg, Modern History "Steven A. Barnes does a wonderful job describing how the gulag, created to isolate, purify, and reeducate criminal and political prisoners, failed as an institution."
Kate Brown, Slavic Review "This ... will appeal to anyone interested in Soviet history, in general, and the institutions of repression, in particular. By fundamentally altering the way we see the function and operation of the Gulag, it also has much to offer scholars of the penal system in the Soviet Union and in comparative perspective."
Katherine R. Jolluck, Journal of Social History "Death and Redemption is a fascinating and important contribution to our understanding of the role of the infamous Gulag in the Soviet Union... In taking on the Gulag, perhaps the nadir of the Soviet experience, without ideological rancor, Barnes has made a significant contribution to the study of Soviet history, and has provided the interested general reader with a fascinating experience."
John Bokina, European Legacy Show Less