It is a compelling book not only because of the insightful conclusions it draws about antisemitism in the Soviet Union, but also because the case studies Bemporad weaves together make for a gripping, engaging-and, often, gruesome in ways appropriate to the subject matter-reading.
A native of Italy, Elissa Bemporad grew up in Modena. She studied Russian language and History at the University of Bologna and earned her doctoral degree from Stanford University. Bemproad lived in Minsk, Belarus, for a year, where she conducted archival research for her first book, Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk. She is also the author of Women and Genocide: Survivors, Victims, Perpetrators.