XANDER BLAKELY
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Advocate, Kingston Springs, TN Reviewed by Mary Garrett Author Alexander Blakely graduated from college in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in economics Instead of hitting the fast track to fortune in American business of the inside track to power in American government, Blakely opted for the trackless wastes of Siberia. Capitalism and idealism may not seem like soulmates, but Blakely, operating under a compulsion to bring the joys of capitalism to the bleakest part of the former Soviet Union, moved to Russia and SIBERIA BOUND is the story of his years in Novosibirsk, Siberia. It is not a dry treatise on the crumbling behemoth of communism, or an economic analysis of baby steps into the free-market system, or a broad overview of Russian politics. It’s the story of the people Blakely met, how they survive and occasionally prosper inside a system that is often flawed to the point of the absurd, and how much more we have in common than the uninitiated would ever have imagined. Blakely and his Russian partner Sasha dove headfirst into the Russian economic system with a load of cocoa beans. They parlayed the beans into chocolate and from there, in a complex, uniquely Russian system that consists of barter, handshakes,, promises of future payment and equal measures of trust and mistrust, all washed down with liberal libation of vodka, the partners built their “tiny Siberian company into the largest importer of cocoa beans and condoms within eight time zones.” Six months their partnership Blakely and Sasha had generated their first million dollars. That was the good news. After paying off the local mafia, expenses, and taxes that would make even a U.S. politician blush, there wasn’t much left in the way of profit. Still, it was an encouraging start and the beginning of an initiation into a business world like nothing Blakely had been taught about at Swarthmore. Success was followed by failure, the process was repeated, the successes and the failures escalating in equalproportion. Doing business means meeting people; living effectively in a foreign country means learning their customs and their language. In doing so, Alexander Blakely come to love and respect the Siberian people from inside out, not because he planned but because of who they are. He describes this story of his time in Russian as “a look at Siberia through American eyes. It is the story of how the myriad costs of democracy affect a Siberian man, his family, his company, his town... It is also a look at America through Siberian eyes. It reveals the hidden costs we have paid and continue to pay in order to promote and prolong our prosperity… This book isn’t just about costs. It is about hidden rewards, unexpected joy, and unconditional love. Read this book for the same reason I wrote it: to better understand the pursuit of happiness and the American Dream.” Blakely’s book is a fascinating travel memoir, insightful, detailed, filled with the minutia of daily life. He laughs at himself, an American in Siberia; he laughs and despairs with the Russians at their Catch-22 capitalism, and he forms priceless friendships. In the aftermath of the Cold War, SIBERIA BOUND is a breath of fresh air, filled with humor and genuine respect, a reality check in the face of evolving relations between nations from an articulate man who found much to admire in the national character of a people we were taught for so long to view with suspicion.
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