To Russia with Love
425 pages, 6 x 9
31 color plates, 31 halftones
Paperback
Release Date:15 Feb 2014
ISBN:9781602231405
Hardcover
Release Date:15 Oct 2012
ISBN:9781602231399
To Russia with Love
An Alaskan's Journey
By Victor Fischer and Charles Wohlforth
University of Alaska Press
Son of the famous American journalist Louis Fischer, who corresponded from Germany and then Moscow, and the Russian writer Markoosha Fischer, Victor Fischer grew up in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin, watching his friends’ parents disappear after political arrests. Eleanor Roosevelt personally engineered the Fischer family’s escape from Russia, and soon after Victor was serving in the United States Army in World War II and fighting opposite his childhood friends in the Russian and German armies.
As a young adult, he went on to help shape Alaska’s map by planning towns throughout the state. This unique autobiography recounts Fischer’s earliest days in Germany, Russia, and Alaska, where he soon entered civic affairs and was elected as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention—the body responsible for establishing statehood in the territory. A move to Washington, DC, and further government appointments allowed him to witness key historic events of his era, which he also recounts here. Finally, Fischer brings his memoir up to the present, describing how he has returned to Russia many times to bring the lessons of Alaska freedom and prosperity to the newly democratic states.
[A] remarkable life captured now in an extraordinarily well-researched and well-told autobiography. If you shy from autobiographies as self-aggrandizing accumulations of details that no one but a mother could love, expect something quite different here. Reading this one is like sitting with Vic for one of the most fascinating conversations of your life.
Here is an epic memoir that reads like a best-selling thriller. This fast-paced page turner has it all: Russian intrigue, spies, narrow escapes, adventure, political hijinks, mavericks, monsters, the birth of Alaskan statehood, and an ongoing love affair that spans the rollercoaster history of the Last Frontier.
[I]n waiting to age 88 to complete his life story, Vic has much more territory to cover. He does it well. . . . Fischer, with the assistance of Charles Wohlforth, another accomplished Alaska author and researcher, has given us a fascinating account of the journey that began in Germany in 1924 and continued in Russia before he moved to the United States.
Vic Fischer’s life story reads like a real-life Forrest Gump, with appearances by Lenin, Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Saul Alinsky and many more, together with everyone in the whole history of Alaska from statehood to the present day. A great read by a great Alaskan.
This wide-ranging account succeeds as a unique, thoughtful perspective on circumpolar affairs.'
“[An] extraordinary autobiography. . . . To Russia with Love: An Alaskan’s Journey is carefully researched and thoughtfully written in an easy-to-read style that makes it impossible to put down.”
Victor Fischer held several government positions and was on the faculty at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and Anchorage, where he was director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research. He continues to work in state policy, local government, and Alaska-Russia issues. Charles Wohlforth is a lifelong Alaska resident and prize-winning author of numerous books about Alaska. A popular lecturer, he has spoken all over the United States and overseas.
Introduction
Formative Years
1. The Reichstag Fire
2. Markoosha and Louis
3. Early Soviet Years
4. The Troika
5. The Purge
6. Escape to America
7. The Troika at War
8. Coming of Age
Beginnings in Alaska
9. Alaska Bound
10. Becoming Alaskan
11. Little Men for Statehood
12. Constitution Delegate
13. Convening the Convention
14. Constitutional Battles
15. Fatherhood and Statehood
Making Connections
16. Seeking Challenges
17. Earthquake
18. Return to Russia, and Alaska
19. The Institute of Everything
20. Fairbanks Years
21. Troika Redux
22. Starting a New Life
Full Circle
23. State Senate
24. Transitions
25. Russian Reconnection
26. Working Internationally
27. Russian Endings
28. Secrets to a Long Life
Chapter Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Formative Years
1. The Reichstag Fire
2. Markoosha and Louis
3. Early Soviet Years
4. The Troika
5. The Purge
6. Escape to America
7. The Troika at War
8. Coming of Age
Beginnings in Alaska
9. Alaska Bound
10. Becoming Alaskan
11. Little Men for Statehood
12. Constitution Delegate
13. Convening the Convention
14. Constitutional Battles
15. Fatherhood and Statehood
Making Connections
16. Seeking Challenges
17. Earthquake
18. Return to Russia, and Alaska
19. The Institute of Everything
20. Fairbanks Years
21. Troika Redux
22. Starting a New Life
Full Circle
23. State Senate
24. Transitions
25. Russian Reconnection
26. Working Internationally
27. Russian Endings
28. Secrets to a Long Life
Chapter Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
