Last Updated on 2003-02-13

Library Journal - 6/1/02 Issue

Shortly after graduating from Swarthmore with a B.A. in economics, Minnesota farm boy Blakely headed for Siberia, one of the last frontiers on Earth, in search of adventure and fortune. Learning to speak Russian fluently, he teamed up with a street-smart native to begin a chocolate factory. This account of their venture "is a look at Siberia through American eyes," says Blakely. "It is the story of how the myriad costs of democracy and capitalism affect a Siberian man, his family, his company, his town. It is about events that test an idealistic economist's faith in prosperity."

Blakely's book dovetails nicely with recent works on Russia's economic state, e.g., David Hoffman's The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia and Chrystia Freeland's Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism, as his capital-building experiences provide concrete evidence of their observations, serving almost as a case study. In the end, Blakely's book isn't just about building capitalism; it is also about his growing into a foreign culture that included business, love, and family relationships and is thus a very palatable way of learning economics, history, and cultural relationships. This very touching, sometimes humorous, always exciting account is recommended for public libraries and more general academic collections.