Fear No Evil

Every tour through the irrational labyrinth of the gulagthe Soviet prison system turns up new horrors, new injustices, new quirks concerning the human will to survive. Sharansky spent nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps. The KGB, in punishment for his human-rights activism and his support for Soviet Jews' demands to emigrate to Israel, used seemingly every means possible to destroy his spirit. He refused to cooperate with his captors and tormentors, who force-fed him through the mouth and rectum during prolonged hunger strikes. In his cell, he kept a photo of his wife who had fled to Israel, where he joined her upon his eventual release in 1986. Told with remarkable calm, even with harrowing humor, Sharansky's gripping and deeply moving account of his prison years is a tribute to human resilience. His sheer courage and moral stature are matched only by his literary skill at conveying the nightmare he endured. Major ad/promo; author tour. (June)