| Soviet Psychoprisons
(1982)
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| Front Cover |
Book Details |
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| Genre |
Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Political prisoners - Soviet Union; Psychiatric Hospitals - Soviet Union; Psychiatry - Soviet Union |
| Publication Date |
5/19/1982 |
| Format |
Paperback (8.7
mm)
|
| Publisher |
W. W. Norton & Company |
| Language |
English |
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
HV8959.R9F57 1979 |
| Dewey |
365/.45/0947 |
| ISBN |
0393000656 |
| Edition |
[1st ed.] |
| Cover Price |
$4.95 |
| No. of Pages |
201 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
It should surprise no one that, in addition to the gulag system, the Soviets employed psychiatry as a weapon against dissent. As an outsider, after the fact, it's easy for me to think one would have to be crazy to stand up against Soviet power and ruthlessness. Many of the victims we meet were scientists; one was a General. These people had acquired some status. The true believers in the Soviet system thought that anybody with such status is crazy to risk losing it to protest against the system. But, of course, "crazy" has nothing to do with what happened to the people whose stories are told here.
The book is made up of two roughly equal halves. The first half is a narrative description of the system of Soviet psychoprisons, how they operate, and the reaction to them from the psychiatric professionals in the West. The second half is a series of appendices which, combined, tell the stories of many of the victims of this treatment in their own words. I felt the appendices were the best part of the book.
For me, one of the more interesting aspects of this sad story is that this wasn't a system built primarily by Stalin. Stalin, of course, sets the standard for cruelty. The events told in this book are certainly cruel. I would hesitate to imagine the abuses of such a system under Stalin. |
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