Alexander Dolgun was an American living in the USSR during the 1930's. One day, walking around the streets, he was captured by the MGB (the Soviet secret police). Although he was completely innocent, he was accused of espionage and kept in prison for 26(?) years.
Dolgun detailed his entire prison stay in a book called Alexander Dolgun: An American in the Gulag. It accounts all of the tortures he was subjected to as a political prisoner in the Soviet Union. He was kept in a constant state of forced sleeplessness, learning to "steal" sleep in between guard checks. He was interrogated twice every day and severely beaten in many of the sessions. The only option he thought he had was to tell a false confession. It was miraculously belived by his captors, ending his daily torture.
After those few years of solid torture and interrogation, he was shuffled between various forced labor camps in east Russia.
I would recommend his book to absolutely anyone who feels that they have problems. I guarantee it will show you the real meaning of courage.
Alexander Dolgun passed away in 1986 living in
America.