In this episode, Frank Soos discusses a key figure in modern literature, Anton Chekhov, and geographer Cary de Wit puts the current headlines on Russia in an historic and economic context.

But I begin with a discussion I had with former Fairbanks Daily News-miner reporter David Ramseur. He’s come out with a book that tracks the events surrounding the opening of the former Soviet Far East to Alaskans. Melting the Ice Curtain: The Extraordinary Story of Citizen Diplomacy on the Russia-Alaska Frontier is published by University of Alaska Press. Ramseur, as you’ll hear, was in a key vantage point to observe and even aid the developing relations between Alaska and Russia. After he left journalism Ramseur joined the administrations of two Alaskan Governors. I began our discussion by asking him about his childhood.