A operatic tour-de-force. Tilar J. Mazzeo, author of The Widow Clicquot
An impressive feat of research, told swiftly and enthusiastically. San Francisco Chronicle
From Vanderbilt and Rockefeller to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Americas captains of industry are paragons of entrepreneurial success, and books about business history, from The First Tycoon to The Big Short, show exemplars of capitalistic cunning and tenacitybut just as American cocktail connoisseurs can mistake Absolut, Skyy, Grey Goose, or Ketel One for the quintessential clear spirit, so too has Americas vision of business history remained nave to a truth long recognized in Eastern Europe: since the time of Tsar Nicholas, both vodka and commercial success have been synonymous in Russia with one nameSmirnoff. Linda Himelsteins critically acclaimed biography of Russian vodka scion Pyotr Smirnova finalist for the James Beard Award, winner of the IACP and Saroyan Awards, and a BusinessWeek Best Business Book of 2009is the sweeping story of entrepreneurship, empire, and epicurean triumph unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
