Boys in Zinc

Svetlana Alexievich, Andrew Bromfield

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English

Penguin
18 May 2017

Reportage & collected journalism; History; Asian history; The Cold War; Military history: post WW2 conflicts

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

From 1979 to 1989 Soviet troops engaged in a devastating war in Afghanistan that claimed thousands of casualties on both sides. While the Soviet Union talked about a 'peace-keeping' mission, the dead were shipped back in sealed zinc coffins. Boys in Zinc presents the honest testimonies of soldiers, doctors and nurses, mothers, wives and siblings who describe the lasting effects of war. Weaving together their stories, Svetlana Alexievich shows us the truth of the Soviet-Afghan conflict: the killing and the beauty of small everyday moments, the shame of returned veterans, the worries of all those left behind. When it was first published in the USSR in 1991, Boys in Zinc sparked huge controversy for its unflinching, harrowing insight into the realities of war.

By: Svetlana Alexievich
Translated by: Andrew Bromfield
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 200mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 228g
ISBN: 9780241264119
ISBN 10: 0241264111
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 18 May 2017
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Svetlana Alexievich (Author) Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own non-fiction genre which brings together a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Boys in Zinc (1991), Chernobyl Prayer (1997) and Second-Hand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time .

Reviews for Boys in Zinc

Superbly translated... Alexievich's choice of truth as hero is the right one for the age of Putin and Trump -- Giles Whittell * The Times * A masterpiece of reportage * New York Review of Books * Alexievich is like a doctor probing the scar tissue of a traumatised nation -- Guy Chazan * Financial Times * What Alexievich is doing is giving voice to the voiceless, exposing not only stories we wouldn't otherwise hear but individuals as well -- David Ulin * Los Angeles Times * Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker * Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul Gawande