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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Warning to the West Paperback – September 1, 1986

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 460 ratings
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Warning to the West includes the texts of the Nobel Prize-winning author's three speeches in the United States in the summer of 1975, his first major public addresses since his expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1974: on June 30 and July 9 to trade-union leaders of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., and in New York City, and on July 15 to the United States Congress; and also the texts of his BBC interview and radio speech, which sparked widespread public controversy when they were aired in London in March 1976.

Solzhenitsyn's outspoken criticism of the West's growing weakness and complacency and his belief that Russia's growing strength will enable her to establish supremacy over the West without risk of a nucelar holocaust are expressed with the moral authority of a great novelist and historian.

"Solzhenitsyn mounts a public indictment of the supine inattention of the West that rings like the blows of the hammer with which Luther nailed his manifesto to the doors at Wittenberg."--Times Literary Supplement

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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hill and Wang
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 1986
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.45 x 7.9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0374513341
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0374513344
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in 1918. In February 1945, while he was captain of a reconnaissance battery of the Soviet Army, he was arrested and sentenced to an eight-year term in a labor camp and permanent internal exile, which was cut short by Khrushchev's reforms, allowing him to return from Kazakhstan to Central Russia in 1956. Although permitted to publish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962―which remained his only full-length work to have appeared in his homeland until 1990―Solzhenitsyn was by 1969 expelled from the Writers' Union. The publication in the West of his other novels and, in particular, of The Gulag Archipelago, brought retaliation from the authorities. In 1974, Solzhenitsyn was arrested, stripped of his Soviet citizenship, and forcibly flown to Frankfurt. Solzhenitsyn and his wife and children moved to the United States in 1976. In September 1991, the Soviet government dismissed treason charges against him; Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia in 1994. He died in Moscow in 2008.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hill and Wang; First Edition (September 1, 1986)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374513341
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374513344
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.45 x 7.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 460 ratings

About the author

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Aleksandr Isayevich[a] Solzhenitsyn (/ˌsoʊlʒəˈniːtsɪn, ˌsɔːl-/; Russian: Алекса́ндр Иса́евич Солжени́цын, pronounced [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɪˈsaɪvʲɪtɕ səlʐɨˈnʲitsɨn]; 11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) (often Romanized to Alexandr or Alexander) was a Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer. He was an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and its totalitarianism and helped to raise global awareness of its Gulag forced labor camp system. He was allowed to publish only one work in the Soviet Union, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962), in the periodical Novy Mir. After this he had to publish in the West, most notably Cancer Ward (1968), August 1914 (1971), and The Gulag Archipelago (1973). Solzhenitsyn was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature". Solzhenitsyn was afraid to go to Stockholm to receive his award for fear that he wouldn't be allowed to reenter. He was eventually expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974, but returned to Russia in 1994 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
460 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bijsmom
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Service
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2024
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Product was as advertised and it came in a timely manner.
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Dr. C.H.E. Sadaphal
5.0 out of 5 stars (4.5 stars) A 1970s prophetic warning that history has validated true. Be forewarned and forearmed.
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2021
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Here in Warning to the West, Mr. Solzhenitsyn alerts American and British audiences that “totalitarianism is coming.” As the author posits, the grand irony is that greater government control seduces the masses into thinking that “the State will save us” when in reality, it is the beast that will devour them. The hope is that the burden of slavish materialism can be shaken off by giving free reign to the spiritual life inherent to all human beings.

Speaking as a former prisoner in the Soviet gulag, the author contemplates the West’s future by looking back and seeing what happed in Russia’s past repeating itself in the then-present day (the 1970s). Solzhenitsyn’s words grab your ear with both hands and stir the soul. The most chilling aspect of his prophecy is that he describes the dominating “spirit of the age” with precision. History has therefore become a dutiful expositor of his words. So, for example (cf. pages 103 and 130), 50 years ago Solzhenitsyn explained the newspaper headlines of 2021: political upheaval, lionization of violent revolutionaries, cancel culture, shallow discourse and a pervasive lack of meaningful conversation.

The author’s hypothesis is that the root cause behind the rise of totalitarianism is godlessness: in a world in which I am sovereign, I stand for nothing because my ultimate concern is the god in the mirror. I am indifferent to my neighbor and the world around me; just give me high-speed Wi-Fi and a cushion for my feelings.

At the end of this work, the reader comes to the conclusion that Mr. Solzhenitsyn is not a critic of the West but a critic of its weakness: that is, because we have made so many concessions and compromised on objective truth, the evils that we have both committed and recklessly ignored have matured and come back to consume us.

The hope that Mr. Solzhenitsyn leaves his readers with is how to combat the violence of State control: with firmness. The State will yield the “Big Lie” but the people must stand firm and live the truth by constantly saying, “Not one step further.” For such a time as ours, this book is must-read. Be forewarned and therefore forearmed.
101 people found this helpful
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Donald Ferrier
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent information!
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2023
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The book briefly touches on the horrors of the Silvia commas R. and its dangers if they considered you a “enemy of the state“. This could simply be a trifle as looking out your window as the secret please beat up another innocent citizen.
The main impact of the book is the warning to the western world that they were beginning of that same sinister system in our own countries.
2 people found this helpful
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R. Carl Wells
5.0 out of 5 stars Glad to get this book
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2023
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Americans would benefit from reading Warning to the West. We failed to learn from Solzhenitsyn, and the grim consequences are all around us.
10 people found this helpful
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Sid Cundiff
4.0 out of 5 stars 5 speeches
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2022
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This does NOT have the Harvard address. I does have 2 speeches to labor unions, which prove that Solzhenitsyn identified with blue collar folk. One speech is to the US Congress, one on the BBC, and one interview. All worth reading.
5 people found this helpful
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Terry
5.0 out of 5 stars Listen to him!
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2021
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He is not with us any more, but like most really great authors, he still is talking to us from his tomb.
Nobody listens because everybody is busy making money and living "la dolce vita". In my country they used to say "the Revolution is like a callous: you only feel it when they step on it". That's what always happens in communist societies. You may be the best "comrade" of them all, but as soon as the revolution takes something away from you, then you become a "contra". People don't read and, therefore, are ignorant from History. Because History ALWAYS repeats itself.
32 people found this helpful
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David
5.0 out of 5 stars A man ahead of his time
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2021
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This collection of speeches shows the speaker to be a prophet-a man ahead of his time. His words could not be more true then they are today. One example:

...Europe today? It is nothing more than a collection of cardboard backdrops, all negotiating with each other to see how little can be spent on defense in order to leave more for the comfort of life.”

This is well worth the read for any American concerned about what is happening within our borders through the progressive and communist leaning administration and leadership in 2021.
16 people found this helpful
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Andreas Clever
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly relevant today
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022
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I caught myself many times saying “this is exactly what is happening today”. Everyone should read this book to understand what we are moving towards.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Michael Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2021
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I had read the gulag book and was horrified. I mean we all know that things went south in Russia for many years but wow. Anyway this book has some of the authors speeches very mind bending. Would recommend this for anyone who thinks this world is all good.
One person found this helpful
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louis rimmer tagoe
5.0 out of 5 stars Important truths
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 9, 2023
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Fantastic warning to the fractured and turbulent West in the 21st Century
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andrade
5.0 out of 5 stars Pequeno grande livro!
Reviewed in Spain on September 7, 2022
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Merecia ser de leitura obrigatória este livrinho. Claro e preciso sobre o comunismo e o perigo que representará sempre para a humanidade.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye opening
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2021
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Alexander points out the hypocrisies and double standards he believes the west is commiting that may lead them down a path of destruction and totalitarianism. History is repeating. Must read.
2 people found this helpful
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smudge
5.0 out of 5 stars Still relevant, perhaps more so now
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2023
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If ever a book needs to be re-read or an author revisited (the speeches were actually delivered in 1975) it is this by Solzhenitsyn. Politicians academics and students, especially in the US where Communism seems to be a cult movement need to understand and digest the message of this great, brave and wise man whose suffering at the hands of a perverse and perverted ideology was real. There is no excuse to ignore either the message or what gave rise to it and those who do should hang their heads in shame, if they have any. Freedom matters.
4 people found this helpful
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