Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize, and the Longman-History Today Book Prize
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
“Masterly. . . . Many of [Russia’s] modern pathologies can be traced back to this grand tsarist experiment—to its tensions, its traumas and its abject failures.” —The Economist
“[Beer] has mined an impressive trove of resources. . . . From these rich lodes emerges a history with the sort of granular details . . . that make the terror of the ‘very name “Siberia”’ so vividly, so luridly clear.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Impeccably researched, beautifully written.” —The Guardian
“Beer’s excellent book will for some time be the definitive work in English on this enormous topic.” —The Wall Street Journal
“It is hard to imagine the hell of Siberia’s penal colonies under the tsars. This history paints a vivid and grisly picture. . . . An absolutely fascinating book, rich in fact and anecdote.” —The Times (London)
“Enough to make one blush with shame for the human race. . . . Beer’s writing is clear, his judgments careful and restrained.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“A superb history of the exile system. . . . Though [Beer] is an impressively calm and sober narrator, the injustices and atrocities pile up on every page.” —The Sunday Times (London)
“Beer gracefully brings to life the immensely rich and tragic history of Siberia since the territory’s colonization began. . . . In this lush mosaic laced together with fluent prose, [he] profiles prisoners of all sorts, narrating their ordeals and the stomach-turning punishments they endured.” —Foreign Affairs
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