TITLE: If each strict subgroup of G is free, must G be free or cyclic of prime order ?
QUESTION [13 upvotes]: If each strict subgroup of a group G is free, must G be free or cyclic of prime order ?

REPLY [26 votes]: No. There is a variation of Tarski monster: a nonabelian group whose each proper nontrivial subgroup is infinite cyclic, see the book of Olshanskii.
Concerning Misha's comment. For any countable family of countable involution-free groups $G_1,G_2,\dots$, there is a group $H$ containing all $G_i$ as proper subgroups such that each proper subgroup of $H$ is either infinite cyclic or a conjugate of a subgroup of some $G_i$. This is Obraztsov's embedding theorem.