How The East Was Won

While a neophyte United States expanded west, Russia conquered an inhospitable territory to its east--Siberia, a vast land of majestic beauty and abundant natural resources. This is the little-known story of how the east was won, Russian-style--from settlement by ancestors of North America's indigenous people; 16th-century Cossack invasion; the 1890s, when the Trans-Siberian Railroad enabled convict labor; Communism's arrival in 1917; and the rush to develop heavy industry.

Wow! If I'd taken a good Russian history class in high school or college, perhaps I would have been as facinated as Condoleezza Rice was and would have parlayed it into some sort of career too. I watched Siberia: How The East Was Won over the weekend on The History Channel was totally engrossed.

Alas, so much to learn, so little time ...