An extensive mural of the prison and camp system in the former Soviet Union from 1918 to 1956, primarily during the Stalinist period, a modern epic where the unbearable harshness of the descriptions is often tempered by humor, the autobiographical chapters alternate with large historical panels, and through all this, the tragic fate of millions of people emerges. A book that marked the 20th century.

Solzhenitsyn himself experienced the terrifying universe of the "Archipelago". In 1945, having distinguished himself on the battlefields of the Northwestern Front during World War II, he was arrested because in a letter he criticized Stalin. He would spend the next eight years imprisoned in prisons and labor camps and then another three in forced exile, until his rehabilitation in 1956.

In 1960, he published his other monumental work, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which would earn him international fame.

From 1963, he fell into disfavor again, and henceforth published his works abroad or through the samizdat method (private handwritten publication that circulated secretly from the authorities). He completed the writing of "The Gulag Archipelago" in 1967 and sent a microfilm with the text of the work abroad. In 1970, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (which he did not accept, fearing that if he went to Stockholm, the Soviet authorities would not allow him to return to Russia). In September 1973, when he learned that the KGB had a copy of the work, he gave his consent for "The Gulag Archipelago" to be published abroad (the first volume was published in 1974, and the remaining two by 1977).

The weight of historical testimony combined with the power of the great writer's prose makes "The Gulag Archipelago" a classic work. This edition, which includes Parts I and II of the work, was first published by the Papyrus Publishing Organization in 1974, the same year the work was published in France and England.