A history made possible by a book

The review of Anne Applebaum’s “Gulag: A History” by Stephen Sestanovich in the Wall Street Journal today is superb, a tribute both to Applebaum’s history and the shattering book that made it possible: “Chain of misery.” Here is Sestanovich’s conclusion: “Compared with its predecessor, ‘Gulag: A History’ is a mere book, not an experience. But it is a valuable and necessary book, the kind that Mr. Solzhenitsyn hoped for and that he, 30 years ago, did much to make possible.”