Exile, Murder and Madness in Siberia, 1823-61

Despite reports of exile proving disastrous to the region, 300,000 Russian subjects, from political dissidents to the elderly and mentally disabled, were deported to Siberia from 1823-61. Their stories of physical and psychological suffering, heroism and personal resurrection, are recounted in this compelling history of tsarist Siberian exile.

Andrew A. Gentes holds graduate degrees from the University of California-Riverside and Brown University, USA, has taught in the United States, China, and Australia, and held research fellowships at the George Kennan Institute, Hokkaido University's Slavic Research Center, and Library of Congress's John W. Kluge Center. He is the author of Exile to Siberia, 1590-1822 (Palgrave, 2008) and translator of Russia's Penal Colony in the Far East: A Translation of Vlas Doroshevich's 'Sakhalin' (2009).

Introduction: Geography, Penality, Power and Resistance
The Surge: Exile and Crime in Siberia
Administering Exile: Malfeasance, Corruption, and Failure
Political Exile and the Martyrdom of the Decembrists
Extraordinary Decembrists: Chizhov, Lutskii and Lunin
Paranoia and Conspiracy: Polish Exiles and the Omsk Affair
Exile to Settlement
Katorga and the 1845 Ulozhenie
Conclusion: Aesthetics, Delusions, Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography