Soviet Psychoprisons

“A useful account of the dissidents’ struggle to expose psychiatric abuse and embarrass the regime. [Fireside’s] chapters on ‘Patients,’ ‘Doctors,’ and ‘Resisters’ are especially suited for readers with little background on Soviet dissent. The defiance of activists like Vladimir Bukovsky, Semyon Gluzman, and Alexander Podrabinek did much to deflate the government’s omnipotence. . . .Fireside describes their activity well, he has also compiled important primary material. These documents, including A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissidents, which Bukovsky and Gluzman wrote in a labor camp, are note easy to find, and Fireside has performed a service by making them available.” —Joshua Rubenstein, New England Coordinator of Amnesty International, U.S.A. and author of Soviet Dissidents, in Commentary