Reddit reviews The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Parts I-II (English and Russian Edition)
We found 3 Reddit comments about The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Parts I-II (English and Russian Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
SiberiaPolitical PrisonerSoviet UnionIvan DenisovichStalin
The Gulag Archipelago
It's extremely long and I'm afraid I have no idea where that particular anecdote is in the book. That link is to just the first three parts. I'm not sure which translation I used because I actually listened to the audiobook version, which is well done (some British fellow with a crisp accent and a wry inflection). It is filled with marvelous stories.
If you want something shorter to start out with you could try One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is about life in the Gulag.
I'm resisting a sarcastic reply because you aren't the person I thought you were when I first read this in my inbox.
According to ye-olde Wikipedia, 775 detainees have been brought to Guantanamo. Most of these were released without charge with 166 remaining. Seems like almost all of them were foreigners captured overseas in combat zones. Notably Guantanamo has been debated loudly in public (even though the Government has refused to close it), without anyone being sent to Guantanamo for talking about Guantanamo. Also notable is that when prisoners went on a hunger-strike they were force-fed to keep them alive (still ongoing?).
Now the other place. The Gulags of Soviet Russia. Wikipedia puts their peak prisoner count near 1.7 million, with over 14 million through the system's history (and with almost that many again being sent to other non-gulag facilities and locations). Estimated deaths up to 10 million. These numbers are so mind-bogglingly large that it is hard to accept such a thing could even exist.
Aside from making an ideological argument about the treatment of prisoners in a nominally democratic society like the US, I don't see how these are in any way comparable.
Want to learn more about what a totalitarian society looks like?
http://www.amazon.ca/Gulag-Archipelago-Solzhenitsy/dp/0060803320/ref=pd_sim_b_4/192-2368664-3504354
This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/Gulag-Archipelago-1918-1956-Experiment-Investigation/dp/0060803320/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1505769167&sr=8-3&keywords=gulag+archipelago+volume+1
It is large, but more information is better. I recently got volume III but I am re-reading I+II before I start it.