Larger in area than United States and Europe combined, Siberia is a land of extremes, not merely in terms of climate and expanse, but in many kinds of lives its population has led over course of four centuries. Janet M. Hartley explores history of this vast Russian wasteland--whose very name is a common euphemism for remote bleakness and exile--through lives of people who settled there, either willingly, desperately, or as prisoners condemned to exile or forced labor in mines or gulag. From Cossack adventurers' first incursions into Sibir in late sixteenth century to exiled criminals and political prisoners of Soviet era to present-day impoverished Russians and entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in oil-rich north, Hartley's comprehensive history offers a vibrant, profoundly human account of Siberia's development. One of world's most inhospitable regions is humanized through personal narratives and colorful case studies as ordinary--and extraordinary--everyday life in the nothingness is presented in rich and fascinating detail.