Up from Serfdom : My Childhood and Youth in Russia, 1804-1824

"It was the arbitrary nature of the serfholder's power that weighed on serfs like Nikitenko, for as they discovered, even the most benevolent patron could turn overnight into an overbearing tyrant. In that respect, serfdom and slavery were the same."—Peter Kolchin, from the foreword Aleksandr Nikitenko, descended from once-free Cossacks, was born into serfdom in provincial Russia in 1804. One of 300,000 serfs owned by Count Sheremetev, Nikitenko as a teenager became fiercely determined to gain his freedom. In this memorable and moving book, here translated into English for the first time, Nikitenko recollects the details of his childhood and youth in servitude as well as the six-year struggle that at last delivered him into freedom in 1824. Among the very few autobiographies ever written by an ex-serf, Up from Serfdom provides a unique portrait of serfdom in nineteenth-century Russia and a profoundly clear sense of what such bondage meant to the people, the culture, and the nation. Rising to eminence as a professor at St. Petersburg University, former serf Nikitenko set about writing his autobiography in 1851, relying on his own diaries (begun at the age of fourteen and maintained throughout his life), his father's correspondence and documents, and the stories that his parents and grandparents told as he was growing up. He recalls his town, his schooling, his masters and mistresses, and the utter capriciousness of a serf's existence, illustrated most vividly by his father's lurching path from comfort to destitution to prison to rehabilitation. Nikitenko's description of the tragedy, despair, unpredictability, and astounding luck of his youth is a compelling human story that brings to life as never before the experiences of the serf in Russia in the early 1800s. It was the arbitrary nature of the serfholders power that weighed on serfs like Nikitenko, for as they discovered, even the most benevolent patron could turn overnight into an overbearing tyrant. In that respect, serfdom and slavery were the same. Peter Kolchin, from the forewordAleksandr Nikitenko, descended from once-free Cossacks, was born into serfdom in provincial Russia in 1804. One of 300,000 serfs owned by Count Sheremetev, Nikitenko as a teenager became fiercely determined to gain his freedom. In this memorable and moving book, here translated into English for the first time, Nikitenko recollects the details of his childhood and youth in servitude as well as the six-year struggle that at last delivered him into freedom in 1824. Among the very few autobiographies ever written by an ex-serf, Up from Serfdom provides a unique portrait of serfdom in nineteenth-century Russia and a profoundly clear sense of what such bondage meant to the people, the culture, and the nation. Rising to eminence as a professor at St. Petersburg University, former serf Nikitenko set about writing his autobiography in 1851, relying on his own diaries (begun at the age of fourteen and maintained throughout his life), his fathers correspondence and documents, and the stories that his parents and grandparents told as he was growing up. He recalls his town, his schooling, his masters and mistresses, and the utter capriciousness of a serfs existence, illustrated most vividly by his fathers lurching path from comfort to destitution to prison to rehabilitation. Nikitenkos description of the tragedy, despair, unpredictability, and astounding luck of his youth is a compelling human story that brings to life as never before the experiences of the serf in Russia in the early 1800s Aleksandr Nikitenko, Born Into Russian Serfdom In 1804, Almost Miraculously Gained His Freedom As A Young Man, 37 Years Before Serfdom Was Abolished In The Russian Empire. His Compelling Autobiography - Here Translated Into English - Is One Of The Very Few Ever Written By A Former Serf. Nikitenko Describes The Tragedy, Despair, Unpredictability, And Astounding Luck Of His Youth, Bringing To Life The Experience Of A Serf In 19th-century Russia. Chapter 1. My Roots 1 -- Chapter 2. My Parents 6 -- Chapter 3. Father's First Attempt To Introduce Truth Where It Wasn't Wanted 18 -- Chapter 4. My Early Childhood 24 -- Chapter 5. Exile 32 -- Chapter 6. Home From Exile 39 -- Chapter 7. Father Returns From St. Petersburg 46 -- Chapter 8. 1811: New Place, New Faces 54 -- Chapter 9. Our Life In Pisaryevka, 1812-1815 66 -- Chapter 10. School 79 -- Chapter 11. Fate Strikes Again 94 -- Chapter 12. Waiting In Voronezh 104 -- Chapter 13. Ostrogozhsk: I Go Out Into The World 107 -- Chapter 14. My Friends And Activities In Ostrogozhsk 119 -- Chapter 15. My Friends In The Military; General Yuzefovich; The Death Of My Father 133 -- Chapter 16. Farewell, Ostrogozhsk 149 -- Chapter 17. Home Again In Ostrogozhsk 165 -- Chapter 18. Dawn Of A New Day 177 -- Chapter 19. St. Petersburg: My Struggle For Freedom 187. Aleksandr Nikitenko ; Translated By Helen Saltz Jacobson ; Foreword By Peter Kolchin. Based On Nikitenko's Diaries. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) was, according to the novelist Wallace Stegner, "a fighter for public causes, for conservation of our natural resources, for freedom of the press and freedom of thought." A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, DeVoto is best remembered for his trilogy, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri, and The Course of Empire. He also wrote a column for Harper's Magazine, in which he fulminated about his many concerns, particularly the exploitation and destruction of the American West. This volume brings together ten of DeVoto's acerbic and still timely essays on Western conservation issues, along with his unfinished conservationist manifesto, Western Paradox, which has never before been published. The book also includes a foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who was a student of DeVoto's at Harvard University, and a substantial introduction by Douglas Brinkley and Patricia Limerick, both of which shed light on DeVoto's work and legacy "Aleksandr Nikitenko, descended from once-free Cossacks, was born into serfdom in provincial Russia in 1804. One of 300,000 serfs owned by Count Sheremetev, Nikitenko as a teenager became fiercely determined to gain his freedom. In this book, here translated into English for the first time, Nikitenko recollects the details of his childhood and youth in servitude, as well as the six-year struggle that at last delivered him into freedom in 1824. Among the very few autobiographies ever written by an ex-serf, Up from Serfdom provides a unique portrait of serfdom in nineteenth-century Russia and a profoundly clear sense of what such bondage meant to the people, the culture, and the nation."--BOOK JACKET.

Aleksandr Nikitenko, born into Russian serfdom in 1804, almost miraculously gained his freedom as a young man, thirty-seven years before serfdom was abolished in the Russian Empire. His compelling autobiography -- here translated into English for the first time -- is one of the very few ever written by an ex-serf. Nikitenko describes the tragedy, despair, unpredictability, and astounding luck of his youth, bringing to life as never before the experience of a serf in nineteenth-century Russia.

James C. Scott

A rare and powerful document. Nikitenko s memoir should take its place next to the very best ex-slave narratives and those of untouchables in India.