Skating on Thin Ice

In 1921, when he was 11 years old, Anatol Rapoport attempted to ice skate out of Russia to freedom in Poland. Caught by border guards and turned back, he decided to try again with the help of professional Army smugglers. This bittersweet story of emigration, by the famed psychologist and mathematician known for his work in game theory, is set against the background of the Russian revolution and civil war. Poignant accounts of life in the Ukraine and Crimea, stories of Red and White Army soldiers bivouacking in his home, and a 200-mile train ride that takes 13 days in the comfort of a boxcar make this Canadian/American author's story unforgettable.