Some of the newest and most interesting material in the book illuminates the issue of Stalin’s use of the “special settlements” to punish his alleged opponents and to eliminate groups of Soviet citizens from the “body politic.”Special settlement were a little-known part of the Gulag, the punitive system of works camps and places of exile set up all over the Soviet North, Siberia, and parts of Central Asia. This is where most of the so-called “kulaks,” supposedly rich peasants, were sent into exile.The victims of Order no. 00447 who were not shot right away were also sent to these camps, to languish without food, shelter, or medical care, and often to die in abysmal conditions.Too often these camps and others in the Gulag, like the notorious camps of Kolyma, are considered simply another form of prison life.But the sheer barbarism of these camps—the widespread cannibalism and the inhuman treatment of men, women, and children—is an important dimension of the story of Stalin’s genocides.Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the opening of some materials on Stalin’s life, there has been an ongoing reevaluation of Stalin’s role in the history of the Soviet Union—indeed of his role in the history of the modern world. This process of reevaluation has special importance for the present and future of the Russian Federation.Even the President of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, has called for an end to making excuses for Stalin’s mass killing of Soviet citizens. It is my hope that this book will contribute in a small way to sharpening our vision of Stalin’s crimes, and putting them into the larger context of the history of genocide in the 20th Century.