Robert Conquest Books

Author of two dozen books, Robert Conquest specializes in politics, international affairs and, specifically, the history of Russia and the Soviet Union.

Two of his most famous works include The Great Terror and The Harvest of Sorrow, exposing the true evil of the Soviet Communist regime. Conquest did so at a time when these horrific facts were not known and no one in the West had ever heard of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

He has been awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom (2005) and the Order of the British Empire. The importance of his work has also been recognized by those countries impacted by the Soviet scourge, having been awarded Poland’s Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit, Estonia’s Cross of Terra Mariana, and the Ukrainian Order of Yaroslav Mudryi.

An historian, Conquest was first a soldier, serving in the British infantry during World War II

Robert Conquest Books

The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine

The true evil of Communism on display. Not from a philosophical perspective, but an historical one.

Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow is the definitive work on one of the most barbaric tragedies of the 20th century – the purposeful starvation of the people of Ukraine and other areas of Russia.

In order to achieve Communism’s goals, between 1928 and 1932 the Soviet Communist Party set about deporting millions of peasant families while simultaneously abolishing private land ownership, forcing upon the populace a collectivist farm structure. At the same time, these peasants were given impossibly high grain quotas, while being cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union.

The result was the death of more than 14.5 million people. All in the name of the Communism.

This book is both a deeply detailed historical analysis and an incredibly moving account of one of the darkest untold events of the past century.

The Great Terror

The definitive account of Stalin’s purges, Robert Conquest’s The Great Terror is so accurate, it is regarded as the primary work on the topic, not just in the West, but in the former Soviet Union as well.

First penned in 1968, relying on unofficial sources, this 40th anniversary edition has been re-worked and expanded since the fall of the Soviet Union with a bounty of new resources, data and accounts.

With the original work being criticized by some who refused to believe the scale of evil that had been reaped upon the Russian people, Conquest’s accuracy was made clear over time. So much so, it is reported that when this new edition of the book was going to print, his friend Kingsley Amis suggested a new title: I Told You So, You Fucking Fools.

The Great Terror documents Stalin’s reign of terror between 1934 and 1939 in which he set out to eliminate political opponents by sending them to forced labour camps and execution. While specifically it is believed that almost a million people were killed, Conquest outlines how these political attacks were actually the start of a larger purge that cost the lives of some 14 million Russian citizens.

Both historical fact and gripping story telling, Conquest details the three big “Moscow Trials” as well as more specific incidents such as the elimination of writers and intellectuals, as well as what life was like on a forced labor camp.