A review by annewithabook
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 by Anne Applebaum

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

This seems like a relevant book to read in this current age, considering Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This book examines the Soviet Union's treatment of Ukraine, from it's takeover of Ukraine in the 1910s to one of the worst famines in all of history in the 1930s. It is a truly sobering book to read, and while I knew of the incident in general, to read the details of how horrific it was to live in the Soviet Union is pretty sobering. It is truly sad how Stalin tried to cover up just how horrific the Ukrainian people were treated, with even their language being obliterated. I also appreciated how this book is written in an accessible way, making it not simply a book for scholars. Saying that, it does get repetitive at times, making it a slow read. But I appreciate this book bringing a mostly unknown moment of history into the public eye.