Reading this book against the backdrop of the current situation in Ukraine gives such an incredibly different perspective on what's happening. So many people don't understand what the Ukrainians are fighting for and they'd really benefit from reading Red Famine.

I really wanted to read this but I've really struggled with this book as I found the style very dry and academic.

Between 1932-1933 almost 4 million Ukrainians starved to death by being deliberately deprived of food. It’s one of the twentieth centuries most devastating events. Red Famine investigates this and tries to find out all the information about how and why this happened and who was involved. It uses archived material and testimonies that became available when the Soviet Union ended. It is one of the most detailed accounts of what happened during this time. I found this book sad to read as what happened should never have happened. It’s filled full of the truth and part of our world history.

Overall 4.5*
This is a powerful book on a shocking and 'hidden' period of history which I knew nothing about and is not only very well researched but also very readable and accessible. It was an emotional read because of how we view the famine situation, exacerbated by the decisions by the Soviet regime, Although it is unclear how much it was pre-planned , this is clearly a shameful period of history.
The Holodomor will remain in your mind long after reading this book

This is a detailed and authoritative account of the policies pursued in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s which resulted in the starvation of some four million people in the Ukraine (at that time a part of the USSR). It is a shocking indictment of Stalinism and has resonance for today given the actions of Mr Putin's Russia towards the independent state of Ukraine.

Ukraine the bread basket of Europe. Between 1931 and 1933, a man made famine hit the country and killed millions. The Russian revolution had many consequences the most directly which was the graduation of Stalin to leader of the USSR, the collective farms forced the Ukraine into famine and as was so often suspected it wasn’t 100% accidental or poor policy.

The regular rebellions in the region were the reason, according to Applebaum that at 3 million people died in a type of punishment genocide.

An well researched, informative read and somewhat of an eye opener. Especially in regards to recent events in Ukraine.

​I don't often read non-fiction these days but a good history book can capture my attention in the same way that a good novel does.

Red Famine most definitely falls into this category.

Most of us do not know the history of Ukraine and for a lot of people the events of over 100 years ago in a country far from home, where we are unlikely to have kith or kin seem irrelevant and almost trivial.

However, to read this book is to realise that history does repeat itself, again and again, to ignore what happened then is to invite it to happen now.

This book is not just dry history, not just words on a page to learn by rote for an exam. It is heartbreakingly real, it is a story of political dominance by control of the food supply.

Most of us are aware of the Holocaust that happened during WWII and the enormous price paid by the Jewish people during that time, but far fewer of us have heard of the Holodomor where nearly 4 million Ukrainians starved to death in the period between 1931 and 1934.

If you starve to death all the people that oppose you then do you have a country too hungry, too weak, too brutalised to be able to resist you.

This book sets it all into context. It doesn't start in 1931. The book reveals all the background from the late 1800's onwards that leads to this deliberate choice by Stalin to let people starve.

I am glad I read this book. I am better educated and more informed because of it. I wish such a subject never had to be written about and I worry that we will see it happen again.

This is undoubtedly well-researched but it makes no concessions to those of us who are not experts on Soviet-Ukrainian relations: Applebaum tries to contextualize events by giving a potted history of the Ukrainian nationalist cause, the desire for socialism without Soviet Bolshevism but it can be hard work getting to grips with names and events which flash past. This is not a criticism of t :) e book, more a reflection on the reader who will get most from it.

The central sections about the famine, including personal accounts, are disturbing and harrowing but also more accessible.

I can admire Applebaum's research but she's not a natural storyteller for a crossover volume as this seems to be: important but a rather dry read.

Certainly not a novel, more of a Masters Degree thesis. Nevertheless, fascinating and tragic history.

Such a shocking history and all the more so when we think of Russia's aggressive actions in the world today. Nothing has changed much.

I knew very little about Ukraine before reading this book, so the fact that the famine was put into the wider political and historic context was invaluable to me. The book was meticulously researched, and illustrated with a wide variety of quotes but was never dry. It seems unimaginable that anybody, let alone a government, could put people through the horrors of this artificially created famine. Some of the passages in the book will stay with me for the rest of my life.

A must read-A harrowing account on the way Stalin created the famine in Ukraine. A fantastic account of the early Soviet Union.. A fabulous book.

I have really struggled with this book. I want to read it. I feel I _should_ read it but it's just unfathomable to me. There's no doubt that it's been excellently researched but I find the style very dry and academic. It starts with a long history of Ukraine which is very involved with endless individuals, groups and places that I have never heard of. I just can't process it any meaningful way. I tried reading Wikipedia so see if knowing more about the history of Russia in a more concise way would help but it didn't. I feel like I need to be a expert in Russia history to find this book of interest. There are sections later on (from chapter 11) where it gets more personal with accounts of how the famine affect individuals but I found it such traumatic reading that I have had to stop.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK) for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I’m just sorry it wasn’t more positive.

The book contains accounts from survivors of the famine. It is a rather harrowing account of a dark time.

Couldn't read on time due to a broken e reader. My sincere apologies to the author and publisher for this.

Superb authoritative examination of the famine in the Ukraine. Meticulously researched, detailed, accessible and often shocking, this is essential reading for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia, the relationship between the two countries and the current tense situation.

Red Famine by Anne Applebaum asks the provocative question of whether Stalin was responsible for the death of multiple hundreds of thousands during a period between the two world wars.

Known as the Holodomor, this period has been conveniently concealed - like most things - from the general knowledge of most in western Europe, although raw in the memories of many in the Ukraine.

The knowledge of this dark period of Ukraine's history was kept hidden through decisions to silence and remove those within intellectual, academic and ruling positions who would speak out.

This book is both challenging and eye-opening to the horror those in Ukraine faced: a story untold to most of us in the west.

It is well written and very well researched. However, it is not an easy read and is quite involved. For me it is something to chew ones way through, although if afforded it would be great to read the whole way through.

This is a book that adds a little bit more colour to the spectrum of an often monochrome telling of history.

A very interesting account of the history of Stalin's treatment of the Ukrainian people. He creatied a famine and thereby the death of almost 4 million people by repression and forcing the ordinary person to run the farming industry without any benefit to them; in fact, they were shot if they ate of their own produce. This moment in history is very well documented by Ms Applebaum. A dreadful crime makes this book heartbreaking to read but compulsive at the same time.

The author sets out to document systematic creation of famine and genocide in a country Stalin feared..Ukraine. there are no heroes here except those local peasants who fought back with fledgling ideas of democracy, thinking Stalin would not allow mad dedtruction opposed to what seemed to be Soviet socialist principles , the people write and sent messages of all kinds to him .. to no avail. . It was incomprehensible... The gathering of research data the author has found from. various sources is almost overwhelming and grim. In some ways knowing this not only helps to understand secret political societies' modus operandi but also background to attitudes Russians feel today toward Ukraine . Horrific overwhelming facts support her thesis that Stalin was targeting this entire country for destruction. They survived!

I had trouble diving into this book initially because the subject is so harrowing but once I found my momentum it was hard to put down. Incredibly well researched and thoughtfully laid out, Red Famine gives us a timeline of Soviet atrocities stretching right up to the present day. For me, the most chilling parallels are the political ones- the widening gap between the haves and have nots, propaganda, nationalism and resistance could all be examples taken from our headlines today.