In 1849, Fyodor Dostoevsky was condemned to die. That April, Tsarist police arrested the 27-year-old novelist for belonging to the Petrashevsky Circle—a group of intellectuals who met on Friday nights to discuss banned Western philosophy. Eight months of solitary confinement followed. Then, on December 22, 1849, Fyodor and 21 others were marched to Semyonov Square. Dressed in white execution shirts. Swords broken over their heads. They kissed the cross and said their goodbyes. Three at a time, t