Pitirim sorokin worksource

The Cold War dissidents are currently hot commodities. Rod Dreher has been documenting their lives for years now, especially in his new book Live Not by Lies, which tells the stories of those who lived behind the Iron Curtain and found “within [themselves] and [their] community the means to live in the dignity of truth” (xiv).

The book clearly has struck a nerve. Dreher, the author of three New York Times bestsellers, recently noted, “Live Not by Lies is by far the fastest seller of them all.” Certainly it’s being read by thoughtful Christians of all denominations, but it has also found a hearing with secular liberals who are finding inspiration from those who resisted communism.

Of course, there is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the GULAG survivor and Russian exile, who has become an icon of truth across the ideological spectrum and whose writings have found new relevance with conservatives and classical liberals alike.

Then there is Va