Alexander Dolgun is an American who was brought to the Soviet Union as a child when his father was a contractor there. During the war, he was trapped there, and was eventually arrested by the KGB in one of their mass arrests. After a long, brutal interrogation, he was sent to the camps for a number of years. His first hand account of his experiences is vivid and terrifying, and well worth reading for those who want to understand the reality of life and death under Stalin.