PEORIA, Ariz., March 19, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Soviet Union and the United States butted heads during the Cold War. According to Russian expatriate and U.S. citizen Henry Eric Firdman, the two countries really weren't all that different then, nor are they now. His new autobiography, Maverick for Life: Without Parole (now available through 1stBooks), details his life in the Soviet Union, working under communists and enduring the wave of anti-Semitism that plagued his life.
Maverick for Life is Firdman's memoir describing his decades in the former Soviet Union where he spent the first two thirds of his life. He was born before World War II into a family that belonged to Leningrad's Jewish intellectual elite whose ancestors were granted the right of St. Petersburg residence in imperial Russia, a rarity. Miraculously, most of his family survived, though much of the city was destroyed during the massive purges of Josef Stalin and the Hitler war machine. With vehement anti-Semitism roaming the streets and crumbling his city around him, young Firdman grew into "a nonconformist half-adult early in childhood."
After the war, his adulthood took on a whole new outlook. His life changed dramatically when he made acquaintances with two "Czechs," who later turned out to be two Americans involved with the Rosenberg spy ring. One of these men, Philip Staros, a.k.a. Alfred Sarant, became Firdman's much needed mentor and father figure. Firdman went to work for the pair, advancing Soviet technology, such as designing the first Soviet large scale integrated circuits and mass produced micro calculators. However, the "unbridled anti Semitic hysteria" eventually crumbled his firm with little hopes of happy endings in the future.
With vivid images and humorous portrayals, Maverick for Life peers through the prism of the author's experiences and offers a first person account of the workings of the Soviet epoch that he hopes will never return.
After nearly a lifetime in the Soviet Union, Firdman and his family finally immigrated to the United States in 1981, although it took some deft manipulation of the communist system. After overcoming a few cultural shocks, Firdman found work as a chief scientist in a number of technology, consulting and Internet businesses. His life and accomplishments have been featured in a myriad of newspapers, magazines, radio and television shows, including an appearance on "The Today Show."
Before writing Maverick for Life, Firdman published several professional books in both the Soviet Union and the United States.
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