Ivan Petrov: Russia Through a Shot Glass

The book tells the true story of Ivan Petrov -- a genius vagabond living through the last years of the Soviet Union. William Brumfield, author of Lost Russia, says, "Ivan Petrov is a potent brew -- part roaring, Rabelaisian tale and part social case study, with a dash of existential rebellion. This book shows, as few others have, that one of the great failings of the late Soviet system was the stifling of individual initiative and the resulting sense of unbearable boredom that pervaded all social levels." Frank Bourgholtzer, former NBC Moscow Bureau Chief, says, "C.S. Walton, in Ivan Petrov, holds a mirror to the lower depths of what was Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It's not a pretty sight, but its truth is worth knowing."