Glorious Misadventures, Matthews - B

                                          This is a very well written history of Nikolai Rezanov, a Russian courtier and nobleman who attempted to solidify Russia's position on the northwest coast of North America. Furs, the 'soft gold' of the pre-industrial era, drove the French into Canada, and the Russians across Siberia into present day Alaska, British Colombia, and as far south as California. The pursuit of, and trade in,  animal pelts was one of the major commercial enterprises of its day and was the reason men crossed the northern tiers of the American and Asian wilds. Rezanov received a charter and funding from the Tsar in 1799 to create the Russian American Company, modeled on the British East India Company, the extraordinarily successful commercial enterprise that conquered for profit. Russia had scattered trading posts in North America, and Rezanov dreamed of expanding them and establishing true colonies. More of a dreamer than a man of talent, he failed utterly, although he actually sailed into San Francisco Bay and spent five weeks treating with the Spanish. He died in Siberia on his way back to St. Petersburg. When the Mexicans achieved independence, they offered Northern California to Russia in exchange for recognition.  Russia declined and sold its interests in America to the US in 1867. This sale was accomplished after the British refused to buy for Canada. The story is rather thin and the author explains how he came upon it. During his sabbatical in San Francisco, Rezanov proposed to the daughter of the garrison's commander. The romance of Rezanov and Conchita has been lauded in poem and novel in both English and Russian and in the USSR's first rock opera. Matthews saw 'Junona I Avos' as a teenager in 1986 in Moscow. Laden with hard American rock and Orthodox religious chants, it was still garnering fifteen minute standing ovations five years after it opened.