Gareth Jones: Eyewitness to the Holodomor

This is the first academic study of Gareth Jones, now recognized as one of the first journalists to reveal the horror of the Holodomor, the Soviet government-induced famine in the early 1930s which killed millions of Ukrainians. Of interest to students of journalism, eastern-European history, and political studies, this book provides a fascinating insight about one of the most devastating events of the 20th century and the social, economic, and political factors that contributed to the famine. A fluent Russian speaker, Jones travelled as a foreign affairs adviser to David Lloyd George and Ivy Lee, two of the most influential people at that time. The Aberystwyth and Cambridge-educated Jones investigated reports denied by the Soviet government that their Five-Year Plan had led to mass starvation by visiting the affected region and living with the Ukrainian people. Gareth Jones's numerous articles, published in the UK (Evening Standard, Daily Express, and Western Mail), as well as those written about him in the US (New York Evening News and Chicago Daily News), exposed the Holodomor, but Jones's credibility and integrity were immediately attacked and denigrated by the Soviet government and its sympathizers within the journalistic profession, including Walter Duranty of the New York Times.