Linda Himelstein. The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire. New York: Collins Books, 2009. 400 pages.
Nineteenth-century Russia was full of both cataclysm and opportunity. As in the the United States, there were profound changes to the social and political structure. And, as in the United States, some of those who benefited from these changes became extremely wealthy.
One such man was Pyotr Smirnov. Born a serf, he took advantage of the opportunities provided by Alexander II’s emancipation of the serfs and Russia’s growing economy to create a vodka empire. Himelstein does a wonderful job of recreating the world that Smirnov grew up in and came to dominate, drawing on extensive research in Russian archives, memoirs, and other contemporary accounts of Smirnov and his times.
Smirnov didn’t have an unopposed march to riches. When he started making vodka in 1864, the vodka field was crowded with competitors, bootleggers and counterfeiters who made his building a brand more difficult. There was also a developing anti-alcohol movement that, supported by writers from Chekhov to Tolstoy, lambasted vodka makers for ruining the Russian people body and soul.
As a result, Smirnov spent much of his time doing religious and charitable work in an effort to forestall criticism. He also had to devote a great deal of energy to courting imperial officials, as receiving the imprimatur of the tsar was the best–and in those days, only universally understood–stamp of approval. Smirnov also triumphed at the international expositions held in Paris, Philadelphia, and Chicago, where his vodkas and liqueurs received high honors.
Towards the end of his career, Smirnov also contended with several plans to have the imperial government monopolize the vodka trade, both to increase revenues and to curtail drinking–two mutually exclusive goals. The monopoly only came to pass after Smirnov’s death, when his three oldest sons took over the business.
The author really immerses the reader in the culture of Russia at the time, allowing us to understand what kind of man Smirnov was. She doesn’t end the book with her protagonist’s death, instead following the unsuccessful reign of his sons and the eventual revival of his brand as US-based Smirnoff vodka. Her chief strengths are her comprehensive research and her faithfulness to her sources. For some, these may be weaknesses. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a novelistic telling of the story. There is very little dialogue, as most of the writing is simply a synthesis of the source material, which doesn’t include any words spoken by Smirnov or any records of his thoughts.
It’s an extremely informative biography, though, and one that’s sure to appeal to those who enjoy reading about both Russian and business history–or those who just like vodka.