Russia's Sakhalin Penal Colony, 1849–1917

Download or read book Russia's Sakhalin Penal Colony, 1849–1917 written by Andrew A. Gentes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive history of the genesis, existence, and demise of Imperial Russia’s largest penal colony, made famous by Chekhov in a book written following his visit there in 1890. Based on extensive original research in archival documents, published reports, and memoirs, the book is also a social history of the late imperial bureaucracy and of the subaltern society of criminals and exiles; an examination of the tsarist state’s failed efforts at reform; an exploration of Russian imperialism in East Asia and Russia’s acquisition of Sakhalin Island in the face of competition from Japan; and an anthropological and literary study of the Sakhalin landscape and its associated values and ideologies. The Sakhalin penal colony became one of the largest penal colonies in history. The book’s conclusion prompts important questions about contemporary prisons and their relationship to state and society.