Sharansky’s Lives

Natan Sharansky grew up in the Soviet Union where he became an elite mathematician and chess whiz. But he also became a dissident, a human rights activist, and a supporter of Israel’s right to exist – in other words: a Zionist. In 1978, Soviet authorities arrested him, ran him through a kangaroo court, and then sent him to the Gulag. When he was released by Mikhail Gorbachev nine years later, he emigrated to Israel, where he became a politician, and then a communal leader. In tandem with the eminent American historian, Gil Troy, he tells his story in a new book: Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People. Both join Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to discuss their book.