"What makes recent Russian immigrants to the USA tick?"

From the second half of the nineteenth century until the 70s, the USA has witnessed four waves of considerable Russian immigration. These can be broken down into four time frames: the second half of the 19th century and early twentieth century before World War 1; the period between 1917-1921 after the Russian Revolution and Civil War: after World War 11; the immigration of the 1970s when the Soviets to a limited degree lifted the ban on immigration.

Red Blues authored by Dennis Shasha and Marina Shron is a very informative and illuminating study pertaining to the last wave of Russian immigration. A wave that was for the most part a "brain drain" consisting of émigrés who spoke Russian and were culturally Russian. This is in contrast to the previous waves of Russian immigrants who very often did not speak Russian and who did not comprise the "crème de la crème." It is also, as the authors indicate in the preface, a book about leaving a big family that unfortunately was dysfunctional.

Over a period of three years the authors focused their interviews on artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and sex professionals, "as they were the most mobile, the most like world citizens." These interviews are organized in eight sections each dealing with a distinct type of émigré. Their stories are as varied as their occupations, ideologies, professions, and attitudes.

From reading these oral interviews we become immediately aware that many of the newly arrived immigrants are highly skilled and educated. They also show profound traits of flexibility, ingenuity and even "chutzpah" in their adaptation to their new environment.

The question as to why these Russian émigrés chose to move to the USA is very often brought to the forefront of some of the interviews. We are made aware of the widespread anti-semitisim, extreme governmental control on daily life activities, burdensome economic conditions, and violation of fundamental civic rights such as freedom of speech, assembly and religion. As one of the interviewees' states: "I believe that only pressure-be it moral, physical, or intellectual can move a person forward. Immigration involves all three. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." This nonetheless does not make it easier for some to make the move. In fact as another interviewee states: "immigration may be hardest for the intellectual because he lives off his mind and his language. Language in the broadest sense."

Although Red Blues is far from an academic study and certainly it is not addressed to a scholarly audience, it nevertheless merits reading from the standpoint of understanding what makes the recent Russian immigrant "tick." It is an honest and frank portrayal of the economic, psychological and sociological struggles faced by the new wave Russian immigrant to the USA.

"Copyright 2002, Bookideas.com"

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookideas
Posted May 18, 2002