by James White
Tales from Imperial Russia is a fortnightly podcast narrating ordinary and extraordinary lives from the Russian Empire. In episodes about 10-30 minutes long, we will avoid the oft-retold stories of emperors and battles to focus on the mostly forgotten lives of individuals from an amazing array of locales, peoples, and circumstances. This podcast is written and performed by Dr James White, a professional historian. For my academic articles, please see: https://ut-ee.academia.edu/JamesWhite
Language
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Publishing Since
1/10/2021
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February 26, 2026
Abandoning his job as a domestic servant in 1735, Ivan Osipov, AKA Van'ka Kain, became one of imperial Russia's most legendary criminals, performing an array of daring heists and audacious gambits over the course of six years. However, in 1741, Kain turned coat, ratting out most of his former accomplices and establishing himself as Moscow's preeminent criminal investigator. In this episode, we follow not only Kain's story from criminal to policeman and back again, but also those of the men and women he betrayed, their testimonies to the police offering us an unparallled glimpse into crime in mid-eighteenth century Moscow. Sources E. Akel’ev, Povsednevnaia zhizn’ vorovskogo mira Moskvy vo vremena Van’ki Kaina (Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 2012) E. Prikazchikova, ‘Van’ka Kain v kul’turnom prostranstve Rossii: semiotika povedeniia’, Quaestio Rossica, vol. 10, no. 1 (2022), 275-289 M. Komarov, 'Zhizn' i prokhozhdeniia Rossiiskogo Kartusha, imenuemogo Kaina, izvestnogo moshennika i togo remesla liudei syshchika. Za raskaianie v zlodeistve poluchivshego otkazni svobody; no za obrashchenie v prezhnii promysel soslannogo vechno na katorzhnuiu rabotu, prezhde v Rogervik, a potom v Sibir'. Pisannaia im samim pri Baltiiskom porte v 1764 godu' in M. Komarov, Van'ka Kain. Milord Georg, ed. V. D. Rak (Moscow: Nauka, 2019): 315-345.
October 30, 2025
A ghost was plaguing the household of Father Ioann Solov'ev, the parish priest of the tiny hamlet of Lychentsy, in November 1900...floating objects, strange fires, disembodied voices, fleshy masses materialising in beds. Exorcisms, guards, the police...nothing seemed to work. In this special Halloween episode, we look at other haunted house stories from the late Russian Empire, explaining their prominence and popularity with reference to both popular demonology and the new craze for spiritualism and the occult sweeping urban populations. Source J. Mannherz, Modern Occultism in Late Imperial Russia (DeKalb: NIU Press, 2012) Voice credit Ekaterina Boltaeva as the voice of Marfa Larionova
October 7, 2025
Everyone in the late Russian Empire was in agreement: the country had a vodka problem. But what were its causes and how should it be dealt with? For answers, many turned to Ivan Churikov, a peasant who became a St Petersburg faith healer after suffering personal tragedy. But his attempts to form a sobriety movement involved him in an endless struggle with the Orthodox Church, one that occasionally cost him his freedom. In this episode, we follow Churikov and his struggles, looking at the alcohol policies of the imperial Russian state and the civic activism that tried to save the empire from drowning in a sea of vodka. Sources P. Herrlinger, Holy Sobriety in Modern Russia: A Faith Healer and His Followers (Ithaca and London: Northern Illinois University Press, 2023) P. Herlihy, The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). P. Herlihy, ‘The Russian Vodka Prohibition of 1914 and Its Consequences’ in E. U. Savona, M. A. R. Kleiman, and F. Calderoni, eds., Dual Markets: Comparative Approaches to Regulation (Cham: Springer, 2017): 193-206. P. Herlihy, ‘"Joy of the Rus’": Rites and Rituals of Russian Drinking’, The Russian Review, vol. 50, no. 2 (1991): 131-147. R. J. Abbott, ‘Alcohol Control and Russian Politics, 1863-1876’, Russian History, vol. 43 (2016): 87-100. I. H. Mäkinen and T. C. Reitan, ‘Continuity and Change in Russian Alcohol Consumption from the Tsars to Transition’, Social History, vol. 31, no. 2 (2006): 160-179. D. Christian, ‘Vodka and Corruption in Russia on the Eve of Emancipation’, Slavic Review, vol. 46, no. 3/4 (1987): 471-488. I. N. Fedotova, ‘K istorii monastyrskikh tiurem v Rossii: Suzdal’skaia Spaso-Evfimieva obitel’ kak mesto lisheniia svobody (konets XVIII – nachalo XX veka)’, Intelligentsiia i mir, no. 2 (2018): 75-86.
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Tales from Imperial Russia is a fortnightly podcast narrating ordinary and extraordinary lives from the Russian Empire. In episodes about 10-30 minutes long, we will avoid the oft-retold stories of emperors and battles to focus on the mostly forgotten lives of individuals from an amazing array of locales, peoples, and circumstances.
This podcast is written and performed by Dr James White, a professional historian. For my academic articles, please see: https://ut-ee.academia.edu/JamesWhite
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