Siberia and the Exile System

An American journalist's unflinching account, published in two volumes in 1891, of Russia's brutal penal system in Siberia.

George Kennan (Author)

9781108048231, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 April 2012

590 pages, 100 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.3 cm, 0.74 kg

The American journalist George Kennan (1854–1924) spent many years travelling in and writing about Russia. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, Kennan wanted to go to Siberia to examine the penal system and the punishment of political exiles. In this unflinching account, published in two volumes in 1891, Kennan gives vivid descriptions, accompanied by extensive illustrations of the prisons and labour camps and the harsh lives of the people forced to live there. This journey also led to a personal transformation for Kennan himself - he started out as a supporter of the tsarist government but when he returned to the United States, he had become an advocate of political revolution in Russia. In Volume 2, he travels to the infamous convict mines of the Trans-Baikal region, and also discusses the extensive police surveillance system he observed while in Russia.

1. Prisons and exiles in Irkútsk
2. Under police surveillance
3. A visit to the Selengínsk lamasery
4. A ride through the Trans-Bailál
5. The convict mines of Kará
6. The Kará 'Free command'
7. State criminals at Kará
8. The history of the Kará political prison
9. The silver mines of Nérchinsk
10. Adventures in Eastern Siberia
11. The great Siberian road in winter
12. Our last days in Siberia
13. The character of political exiles
14. Evils and projected reforms
Appendixes
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]