| Russian Prison Tattoos: Codes of Authority, Domination, and Struggle | 
 enlarge | Author: Alix Lambert
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $20.50
You Save: $9.45 (32%)
New (18) Used (8) from $19.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 28605
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 159
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0764317644
Dewey Decimal Number: 365.60947
EAN: 9780764317644
ASIN: 0764317644
Publication Date: August 2003
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Book Description
For centuries, Russian prison inmates forcibly initiated newcomers with tattoos. Gradually, prisoners developed a secret form of communication with their tattoos, allowing them to establish rank among the other inmates and maintain a clandestine hierarchy. This book explores the grisly reality of Russian prisons and the people who inhabit them. Over 190 black and white and color photographs expose the different tattoos and their meanings, ranging from churches, crosses, Christs, Madonnas, military symbols, cats, dolphins, bears, hawks, and other startling images. Documentary filmmaker Alix Lambert traveled around modern Russia to film these sinister environments, collected stories to identify the dying art of tattooing in Russian prisons, and detailed the lives of the heavily marked inmates, past and present. This fascinating, spine-tingling book provides an entirely new outlook on tattoos and what they can represent!
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| Customer Reviews:
A world rarely seen.... April 18, 2005
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Fascinating anthropological, photo-journal examination of the symbolism and code representations of Russian prison tattoos. An explicit, brutal look at a world most Russians and indeed most Westerners will never see. For an American audience, the importance of tattoo symbolism may be somewhat lost. After all, we live in a world where over privileged frat boys and corporate conformists are now "inked" with designs once almost exclusively earned by members of our own working or "criminal" classes.
Overall a fascinating read, even if the brevity of the text leaves something to be desired.
 Excellent resource January 3, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
For those passionate about Russian prison culture, this is the book for you. This book provides an excellent resource for the meaning behind Russian prison tattoos and it provides valuable information on contemporary Russian prisons...which don't seem to have changed much since the end of the Gulag system. The author attempts to show as many different tattoos as possible, but it does feel repetitive. What helps is the author providing information about Russian prison culture; this brings context and a story behind the tattoos.
Russian Prison Tattoos: Codes of Authority, Domination, and Struggle March 16, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
The book is alright they break it down to politics, being a Russian who came here when I was ten, I realize that the American jails and federal prisons aren't so bad, except cook county jail and tent city in Arizona, lots of info, big photos, but to get the whole perspective, who the bitch is, and who swallows sperm , you would need to complement yourself with the second book called Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia. The books go together.
 so so... April 10, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book was very interesting. But...simply put, not enough photos. Many of the photos included don't show any tattoos at all. Random elderly people and prisoners, jail cells, signs, etc. If you're wanting to understand the prison culture and politics, it would be wonderful!! If you're looking for an interesting photobook of people's tattoos, this is not the one to pick.
excellent book March 28, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
this is an excellent book about russian prison tattoos. it has a lot of clear pictures. it also has quite informative text from good research done by the author. i reccommend this book to anyone interested in tattooing in foreign cultures and countries.
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