August 1914

One of the greatest and most influential writers of the 20th century * Washington Post *
It is written in anger yet with understanding, in scorn yet with compassion. Its characters are universal and timeless. A great book. Read it for an understanding of the human condition in time of war and defeat -- James Callaghan * Guardian *
There is a magnificence about it; not in the writing…but in the determination to make the reader understand that here was a nation careening into a century more tragic for it than any has been for any nation ever * Scotland on Sunday *
Solzhenitsyn's life…spanned all the decades of Soviet history, and his moral authority is unique among his generation * Independent *
The great dissident's massive historical novel * Guardian *
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of those exceptional figures who had a message, a story to tell. Domineering and self-righteous, he was none the less a remarkable human being: a visionary, a crusader in the simplest sense, who was steered in his writing, as in his actions, by a deep sense of justice * Daily Telegraph *
It has been compared, at least in its sweep and intentions, with Tolstoy's War and Peace * New York Times *
Solzhenitsyn will be remembered in the short-term as the bard of the Gulag, a fearless tribune who exercised a crucial liberating influence at a decisive moment in Soviet history, but in the context of the ages, his works will be read so long as readers thirst for the truth about life on this planet * Guardian *
At his best, his writing stands comparison with Dostoevsky, and even when it does not…it has a purpose and ethical force that come from deep within him, honed in the gulags during long years staring at man's inhumanity to man straight in the face * Scotsman *
Not only a great writer but also one who was passionately committed, believing it to be his moral duty, in the face of systematic totalitarian obfuscation, to record Russia's 20th-century experience for posterity * Daily Telegraph *