A major document in the literature of human rights, this now-legendary memoir was a worldwide bestseller when first published in 1978.
At the age of 20, as punishment for his political protests, Bukovsky was falsely declared insane and committed to a psychiatric hospital—standard practice for communism’s critics in 1963. But the quack doctors and brutal guards who kept him captive didn’t realize: Bukovsky wasn’t locked up with them. They were locked up with him.
In this compelling, beautifully-crafted memoir, Bukovsky details with equal parts burning outrage and bitter humor the cruel theater of life for Soviet prisoners of conscience. But he also recounts how he found his inner truth and strength.
Bukovsky offers powerful firsthand testimony to the importance of personal integrity and perseverance under seemingly boundless, endless oppression and abuse.
“Vladimir Bukovsky has written an extraordinary account of his life in the Soviet Union….
Listen closely.”
—New York Times
“This book is important.”
—Former US President Ronald Reagan
“This is a landmark book and a human document that remains vital.”
—Sir Tom Stoppard, Oscar-winning screenwriter of Shakespeare in Love
“If human bravery were a book, it would be To Build a Castle.”
—Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation
“A huge story we must not forget.
Even inside prison, a revolt of the mind is possible.”
—Masha Alyokhina, co-founder of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot
Available for Kindle from Amazon: https://amzn.com/B06XDSCM3B