David Helberg
As he did in Suomalaiset, Munger not only provides illuminating historical background, he also brings us into the minds and hearts of the central characters. And that cast of characters is compelling, to say the least…(W)e also get page turning tension as the book's protagonists endure incredible hardship or tangle with inner demons or fall in (or out of) love or discover their own surprising strengths and weaknesses…Munger, who is not of Finnish ancestry, does a masterful job of capturing the essence of the Finnish character. It is also quite clear that he invested prodigious research into Finnish and Estonian history…
A preeminent contemporary writer, E.L. Doctorow, might just as well have been describing Munger's latest book when he said, 'The historian can tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.'” --Davis Helberg, New World Finn (Oct/Nov. 2014)