How long does it take to read Gulag?
A History of the Soviet Camps
Gulag by Anne Applebaum takes about 12 hours 19 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 12 hours 19 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2003. 672 pages, about 184,800 words.
25 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 20 hours 32 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 12 hours 19 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 7 hours 42 minutes |
The page count is the median across 22 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
A fully documented history of the Soviet camp system, from its origins in the Russian Revolution to its collapse in the era of glasnost. Anne Applebaum first lays out the chronological history of the camps and the logic behind their creation, enlargement, and maintenance. Applebaum also examines how life was lived within this shadow country: how prisoners worked, how they ate, where they lived, how they died, how they survived. She examines their guards and their jailers, the horrors of transportation in empty cattle cars, the strange nature of Soviet arrests and trials, the impact of World War II, the relations between different national and religious groups, and the escapes, as well as the extraordinary rebellions that took place in the 1950s. She concludes by examining the disturbing question why the Gulag has remained relatively obscure, in the historical memory of both the former Soviet Union and the West.
Subjects: Politics and government, Concentration camps, Prisons, Forced labor, History, Travail forcé
