Originally Posted by sashae
The history of the gulags is some of the most depressing stuff you'll ever read. Anne Appelbaum's book is really good (depressing) as well.
Currently reading Solzhenitsyn's Invisible Allies. He basically pays tribute to all of the people who helped him to safeguard his writings (incl. The Gulag Archipelago) from the KGB. Fascinating read.
while we're at it:
Death In Midsummer, Yukio Mishima
The Twelve Chairs, Ilya Ilf
The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite, Ann Finkbeiner