During the mid 20th century, Stalin tyrannically ruled over the Soviet Union. ... Author of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," Solzhenitsyn uses the text to describe the work camps as a microcosm of the society of the USSR during the mid 20th century. ... It was common for prisoners to be shot with absolutely zero justification or warning. ...
For example, O'Brien indicates that among the people who went to war, were cowards like Lavender, a scared man who carried "tranquilizers until the day when he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in Mid- April" (O'Brien 6). ... In 'Ghost Soldiers,' O'Brien recalls that he was shot twice in Vietnam and managed to cheat death. ...
December 9, 1958, Robert Welch and eleven other men gathered in a meeting hall. They came from Oregon, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Massachusetts. He called upon these self proclaimed patriots to help him found a society of pro-American's known as the John Birch S...
