Sakharov: A Biography Review

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Sakharov: A Biography ReviewNadezhda Mandelstam once wrote that "a person with inner freedom, memory, and fear is that reed, that twig that changes the direction of a rushing river." Andrei Sakharov, scientist and father of the Soviet H-bomb, was such a twig, a twig that helped changed the course of Soviet and Russian history.
How does a man evolve from being a relatively apolitical nuclear physicist in the 1940s to being the moral conscience of a nation striving for democracy by the time of his death in 1989? How does a man who was offered and provided all the material comforts available to the preeminent scientist in the USSR turn away from those temptations and choose, instead, to stand a lonely vigil outside kangaroo courts intent on hounding dissidents who dared to speak out against the Soviet regime?
Lourie's marvelous biography of Sakharov does a fine job of setting out both how and why Sakharov evolved from a hero of the USSR with direct telephone access to the Kremlin into a pariah who was hounded, slandered, and finally sent into internal exile in the closed city of Gorky. Yet, by the end of his life, Sakharov, this mere twig, managed to face down and indeed outlast those that set the political might of a nation against him.
Lourie comes to Sakharov with an impressive background in Russian and Soviet history and literature. He has translated numerous works of fiction, including works by Vladimir Voinovich, and also translated Sakharov's Memoirs. (The tragic story of the destruction of numerous drafts of Sakharov's Memoirs by the KGB is set out in detail in Lourie's biography.)
Sakharov is set out in a straightforward, chronological fashion. It begins with Sakharov's family background and his childhood and early adult years. Lourie moves relatively quickly through Sakharov's birth in 1921 and his childhood and teen years. Sakharov , along with his families supported the Soviet regime. Dissent was not an issue for them. Sakharov always considered himself a loyal patriot devoted to the Soviet Union. Lourie sets out in detail Sakharov's early interest in math and the sciences and his academic development. By the time World War II had started it was clear that Sakharov would have a career in the sciences.
After the German invasion of Russia, Sakharov quickly found work in the area of munitions. It was here that Sakharov had his first run-ins with authority. Unlike many of his colleagues who was willing to brook interference from unknowing Commissars. Fortunately for Sakharov his suggestions and mechanical innovations were critical in aiding the Soviet war effort and he was allowed far greater flexibility in his approach to work and science than many of his peers.
Lourie then traces the path that took Sakharov from improving the quality of tank shells and munitions to being the lead scientist in charge of the development of the Soviet atomic and H-bombs. Here Sakharov crossed paths with Stalin, Beria, and most of the other leaders of his time. It is clear that Sakharov would not have survived a failure. Sakharov was committed to the project and believed developing these weapons were in the best interests of Russia. The projects were successful and Sakharov became something of a national hero. It is here that Sakharov's life began to change.
He was provided almost unheard of access to the Soviet leadership. He had direct phone lines to the Kremlin. Gradually, Lourie shows Sakharov repeatedly refusing membership in the Communist Party. He also began taking up the causes of his fellow scientists who were treated unfairly by the apparatchiks that dominated all areas of life. He didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and complain to Khrushchev
As Sakharov grew increasingly distanced from the Soviet regime, the regime grew increasingly intolerant of Sakharov's actions. Sakharov's dissidence evolved from one focusing on small issues to issues of internal democracy and global peace. It is clear that if Sakharov did not possess a vast array of nuclear secrets he would have been subject to the exile in the same manner as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Voinovich. At the same time, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Price. The Soviet authorities were as put off by this award as the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Boris Pasternak. The authorities finally did exile, but to the closed city of Gorky. There he was harassed and harried on a daily basis.
It should be pointed out that Sakharov became famous throughout the world for his dissident activities. However, Lourie's examination of Sakharov focuses almost exclusively on Sakharov from an internal, domestic view point. I believe this was a wise choice as the West actually knew very little of what Sakharov actually was going through during those years.
Lourie's Sakharov is not an exercise in pure idolatry however. Lourie does not fail to note the lack of warmth, in fact the animosity, between Sakharov and his children from his first marriage (his first wife died after over 20 years of marriage) once he met and married Elena Bonner.
Sakharov was, of course, a scientist and Lourie had to address certain scientific concepts and issues throughout the course of the book. His treatment was precise yet understandable to the lay reader.
Lourie's writing is precise and to the point. He lets Sakharov's actions speak for themselves and does not engage in an excessive amount of self-indulgent psycho-analysis of Sakharov. Lourie treats his readers as adults and he allows the reader the opportunity to read the story of Sakharov's life in a manner that allows us to ponder exactly how any man can become a twig that changes the course of history.
This is a book worth reading.
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