Solzhenitsyn served in the Soviet Army during World War II. He was arrested for some indiscreet comments about Stalin. Khrushchev thought he was using Solzhenitsyn to advance his own political aspirations, but eventually lost control of that.
Historian and author Stephen Kotkin of Princeton University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the historical significance of the life and work of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Solzhenitsyn's birth.