The Russian American Company (rac), formed in 1799, significantly expanded Russian operations in Alaska, intensified the labor regime of Native peoples and Russian promyshlenniki (fur traders), expanded settlements down the coast, and even attempted to establish operations in Hawaii. Grinev’s monograph is the continuation of his previous work on the five decades of Russian America preceding the nearly twenty years when Alexander Baranov served as colonial governor of Russian America—the era that is the focus of this work. Through extensive archival research, Grinev has unearthed valuable information in this two-decade period, to which he refers as “the dark decade” because of the loss of documents, including those of Baranov.

Yet, according to Grinev, during this period, Russian America missed “its most favorable years for expansion,” before English or American traders became too numerous in the region (133). Grinev explains this failure largely through the Russian “politarian system,” in...

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