Thanks. ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ (unabridged) is one of my favorite books.
For many who had been imprisoned in the Gulag and later wrote about their experiences, the story was all about themselves and their personal hardships. Solzhenitsyn transcended that, and used his literary powers to analyze the Gulag, particularly in the historical context of the Soviet revolution. It’s a timeless work, and ought, I think, to be required reading for high-school students.