This Day in History December 22, 1849

Today's feature concerns an author with whom I am familiar, but I had no idea about his life.  It was on this date in 1849, that he was nearly executed.  He was the member of what was considered a radical group, and as a result, he spent six months in prison.  He had been sentenced to the firing squad, and they led him out that morning to face his death.  He was granted a reprieve at the last minute, and he went off to Siberia to serve a sentence four years.  He was released, and in was in 1867, the he wrote the novel for which he is most remembered--Crime and Punishment.

For more information:
http://famousdaily.com/history/dostoevskys-execution-called-off.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky