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.

Stressing the relationship between tsarism's service-state ethos and its utilization of subjects, this study argues that economic and political, rather than judicial or penological, factors primarily conditioned Siberian exile's growth and development.

In 1863 Poles living under Russian domination staged the so called January Uprising. In a desperate bid to assert national sovereignty, insurrectionists attacked Russian troops throughout the Kingdom of Poland. The fighting soon spread to the empire's Western Provinces, where ethnic Poles were predominant. During the suppression of the insurrection and in the decades that followed, the Russian government deported as many as 40,000 Poles to locations throughout the empire. Half of these deportees were sent to Siberia, where they were assigned either to penal labor or to rural settlements. "Deluge: The Mass Deportation of Poles to Siberia, 1863-1880" is the first book-length study of this mass deportation of Poles. It is written by an Ivy League educated Ph.D. in Russian history and is based largely on documents found in Siberian archives. The text totals 90,000 words, and includes footnotes and a bibliography. The Table of Contents is as follows: Foreword A Note on Terminology and Usage Acknowledgements Glossary Introduction Chapter One-Siberian Exile, 1590-1863 Chapter Two-The 1863 January Uprising Chapter Three-Suppression, Deportation, and Debate Chapter Four-The Insurrectionists Arrive in Siberia Chapter Five-Forced Settlers Chapter Six-Katorga Chapter Seven-Resistance and the Baikal Circle Road Revolt Chapter Eight-Amnesties, Repatriations, and Other Fates Conclusion Bibliography This book will prove informative to both professional scholars and lovers of history.

"I address the historical origins and development of exile, its different varieties and uses, and the various goals set for it by successive tsarist administrations. I focus on the Siberian bureaucracy and its often failed attempts to translate state policies into actions; and on the exile population as an alternately unified and atomized social group possessing its own cultural attributes. I analyze their complex interrelationship to illuminate better the struggle between state and society during this period"--Leaf iv.