Robert Conquest's book on the Ukrainian famine is a must read, but regarding the blind westerners Paul Hollander'Political Pilgrims is unsurpassed in my opinion.
“And let us not forget that Durranty, the Webbs, George Bernard Shaw and many other “intellectuals” travelled through the Soviet in the early 30s and didn’t see anything.”
“E. E. Cummings traveled through The Soviet Union too. He had a different view... “Cummings traveled to the USSR in the summer of 1931 for 36 days. He took what must have been copious notes, and then when he returned, he wrote EIMI: A Journey Through Soviet Russia, which, after nearly 50 years out of print, has been reissued. Eimi is Greek for “I am,” an obvious reference to the value of the individual, which was being crushed under Stalin, a fact which many in the United States, especially artists and writers, did not see until decades later.” from WorldHum.com