If you're interested in these kinds of books, I'd recommend you to Svetlana Alexeivich's "Unwomanly Face of War" in particular, if you haven't yet encountered i

If you're interested in these kinds of books, I'd recommend you to Svetlana Alexeivich's "Unwomanly Face of War" in particular, if you haven't yet encountered it (and her body of work, in general). They're more bite-size than Solzhenitsyn's behemoths, and perhaps more literary than documentary, but address some similar atrocities from a very unique and human point of view. In particular, her very humble voice for the feminine experience (one that's historically absent from political and "military" histories) is enlightening and provocative. It also helps that she's a fantastic story-teller – fitting neatly into a long genealogy of excellent Russian storytellers. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment. The world might be a better place, if only every person in a position of power spent some period of their life ruminating this tragic corner of world literature.