In the Labyrinth of the KGB: Ukraine's Intelligentsia in the 1960s–1970s by Olga Bertelsen

Olga Bertelsen's In the Labyrinth of the KGB is a difficult book to categorize, and in this case, that works to her advantage. The book is part history and part cultural studies, with elements of psychology, sociology, and political science added judiciously. As history, her absorbing study of Soviet repression and the struggles of writers to maintain their integrity while continuing to pursue their vocations seems to take place in a distant era. It is difficult today to relate to a time and place where poets were like rock stars, selling out large halls to audiences eager to hear them recite their works (p. 2). Yet the study is amazingly timely and relevant, with its unflinching portrayals of Soviet/Russian imperialism, Ukrainian resistance, and the enduring power of the idea of the Ukrainian nation and language. The book provides a powerful rebuttal to arguments that Russia's enmity toward Ukraine, its determined...