My Century: A Soviet Scientist's Journey

A memoir of a 20th Century Soviet scientist, an inventor of semiconductor devices.

How does an ordinary citizen live well in a repressive society, surviving war, dictatorship, systemic attacks against his ethnic community - and then thrive as a morally acute, curious and optimistic intellectual and family man? Vladimir Shpirt in his memoir, My Century , provides an outstanding example of how to prevail and flourish in a dark era.

Shpirt came of age during World War II and Stalinist rule. Despite persistent anti-Semitism and poverty, he became a groundbreaking scientist and inventor of semiconductors, travelled extensively within the Iron Curtain, lived in a tribal community, and established a rich intellectual and social life. Eventually, he immigrated to the United States, along with his family.

Filled with humor, empathy and a sharp awareness of the issues of his time, Vladimir Shpirt’s memoir offers a unique window into everyday life in the Soviet Union – beginning in the pre-war years and extending until the final decade before its collapse.