Real People/Real Stories: A Nonfiction Book Group – “The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia” by Tim Tzouliadis (WL)

Real People/Real Stories meets the third Thursday of each month to explore the best in nonfiction history, biography, science, nature, and the arts. This month’s title is The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia by Tim Tzouliadis

During the Great Depression in the early 1930s, thousands of Americans emigrated to the Soviet Union for both political and practical reasons. In search of a better life, they were exploited by the Soviet government and abandoned by their former countrymen in this harrowing, but fascinating story.

“The horror that was Stalinist Russia is still incomprehensible to many Americans . . . Reading this book is certain to open their eyes.” —Richard Pipes, The New York Sun

“Gripping and important . . . an extremely impressive book.” —Noel Malcolm, Telegraph (London)

“Tzouliadis’s clear, strong narrative discloses the terrible fates which awaited those . . . who wandered into the Soviet sphere. . . . [A] grim, brilliantly told story.” —Financial Times