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Into Siberia : George Kennan's epic journey through the brutal, frozen heart of Russia / Gregory J. Wallance.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: xvi, 284 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps, portraits ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
  • cartographic image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781250280053
  • 1250280052
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
List of maps -- List of photographs and illustrations -- Chronology of relevant events in Russia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries -- Author's note. Introduction -- Prologue: The bell of Uglich -- The frozen world from which even the favor of the creator had withdrawn -- As miserable as a young boy can be -- I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have not failed in anything -- The mountaineers of the Caucasus -- The making of a journalist -- It will really be a magnificent trip -- Every respiration seemed to pollute me to the very soul -- The exile system is worse than I believed it to be -- A Telega will simply jolt a man's soul out in twenty-four hours -- The mines of Kara -- There are people who intend to murder us -- Siberia and the exile system -- Epilogue: The changing of the guard -- Acknowledgments -- Selected bibliography -- Notes -- Index.
Summary: "In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. That changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and he learned of the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent. Over ten months, he traveled eight thousand miles, enduring sandstorms and blizzards. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on inflicted pain and fear. Prisoners in the mines were chained day and night to their wheelbarrows as punishment. Babies froze to death as their mothers held them. After returning to the United States, he set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the imprisoned, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System. He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to spread the truth of the Siberian exiles' suffering, intensifying the newly-emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries, which last to this day"-- Dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 957.092 W195 Available 33111011226095
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"In Wallance's bracing narrative, Kennan emerges as a cheerful, deeply decent companion, an uncompromising observer whose greatest strength was his ability to change his mind. He's a welcome change from the callous imperialists who people most Victorian travelogues, and his humanity allows Into Siberia to delve into horror without succumbing to despair." -- The New York Times Book Review

In a book that ranks with the greatest adventure stories, Gregory Wallance's Into Siberia is a thrilling work of history about one man's harrowing journey and the light it shone on some of history's most heinous human rights abuses.

In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. All that changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and his eyes were opened to the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent.

Over ten months Kennan traveled eight thousand miles, mostly in horse-drawn carriages, sleighs or on horseback. He endured suffocating sandstorms in the summer and blizzards in the winter. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on the fuel of inflicted pain and fear. Prisoners in the mines were chained day and night to their wheelbarrows as punishment. Babies in exile parties froze to death in their mothers' arms. Kennan came to call the exiles' experience in Siberia a "perfect hell of misery."

After returning to the United States, Kennan set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the exiles, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System . He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to describe the suffering of the Siberian exiles, intensifying the newly emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries which last to this day.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-250) and index.

"In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. That changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and he learned of the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent. Over ten months, he traveled eight thousand miles, enduring sandstorms and blizzards. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on inflicted pain and fear. Prisoners in the mines were chained day and night to their wheelbarrows as punishment. Babies froze to death as their mothers held them. After returning to the United States, he set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the imprisoned, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System. He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to spread the truth of the Siberian exiles' suffering, intensifying the newly-emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries, which last to this day"-- Dust jacket.

List of maps -- List of photographs and illustrations -- Chronology of relevant events in Russia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries -- Author's note. Introduction -- Prologue: The bell of Uglich -- The frozen world from which even the favor of the creator had withdrawn -- As miserable as a young boy can be -- I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have not failed in anything -- The mountaineers of the Caucasus -- The making of a journalist -- It will really be a magnificent trip -- Every respiration seemed to pollute me to the very soul -- The exile system is worse than I believed it to be -- A Telega will simply jolt a man's soul out in twenty-four hours -- The mines of Kara -- There are people who intend to murder us -- Siberia and the exile system -- Epilogue: The changing of the guard -- Acknowledgments -- Selected bibliography -- Notes -- Index.

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