Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets

"There is no historian who writes like Svetlana Alexievich. She’s the Studs Terkel of the former Soviet Union, composing history with the voices of others. Overheard conversations and recorded interviews weave together into a collective narrative of that great, collectivist, murderous Soviet experiment. A Russian friend tells me, with awe: Alexievich is not afraid. That which was hidden is revealed. But it’s the tiny details that stick with you, like the strong cologne passed out each evening to the men who worked as executioners in the labor camp. What else could mask the smell of so much death?"