All Was Not Lost: Journey of a Russian Immigrant from Riga to Chicagoland

The book is a Russian immigrant’s life story, written for himself, though with the hope that others may also find it interesting (after Dr. N. I. Pirogov). Chapter 1 begins with the family’s chronicle in the Russian Empire, and how the author’s parents ended up in Latvia following the Bolshevik revolution. It continues through the World War II years in Latvia, Germany and its post-war D. P. camps. In Chapter 2, the author recollects his educational experiences in America, the usual struggles of his immigrant parents to make a new life in their adopted country, and their passage into the next world in 1975 and 1988. The next two chapters are concerned with the author’s work history as a scientist and professor of biochemistry at Rush Medical College in Chicago and elsewhere.

Chapters 5 and 6 are concerned with the spiritual persona of the author: his Russian ethnicity and his Orthodox faith, including history of Russian immigration and the Orthodox Church in the U. S. The author’s interactions with these communities are reviewed, as are his attempts to defend Orthodoxy and Russia’s historical past in America’s news media via letters to the editor and publication of the Chicago Russian-American. Chapter 7 is devoted to the author’s family, i.e., life with his wife Marilyn and his sons Gregory and Alexander, plus his commentary on contemporary American society. His conservative world view, generated by his spiritual persona and behaviors of the ＂progressive＂ Soviet Union and its American followers, are illustrated by his letters to the news media during the 1950-2000 decades.

The book carries a foreword by Dr. Gerasim Tikoff, a friend and retired cardiologist, and is illustrated by photographs from 19^th century Russia and the author’s life in Latvia, Germany and the U. S.