Conscription and the Search for Modern Russian Jewry

"Olga Litvak has written a book of astonishing originality and intellectual force. . . . In vivid prose, she takes the reader on a journey through the Russian—Jewish literary imagination." —Benjamin Nathans

Russian Jews were first conscripted into the Imperial Russian army during the reign of Nicholas I in an effort to integrate them into the population of the Russian Empire. Conscripted minors were to serve, in practical terms, for life. Although this system was abandoned by his successor, ...