This is a book about courage and hardship, management and leadership. It starts with a history of the Karaim people and religion with origins in the 8th century. In 1590, the Regent of Russia who later became Czar Boris Godunov welcomed to his Moscow court an emissary of the Tatar Khan Bora Gazi Giray. During that period, representatives of prominent Crimean Karaim families occupied high positions and performed diplomatic missions for the Tatars who ruled Crimea at that time. This emissary was Isaac Bei (pronounced bay) and about three centuries later his descendant and namesake, now with the family name Beim (pronounced bay-im), Isaac Beim was born in Kherson, Crimea. The story of his descendants makes for fascinating reading. It shows their struggles and the hardships they endured in war torn Europe and the leadership, courage, initiative, and management skills it took to survive in those difficult times. Some of his descendants came to the United States, continuing to struggle to survive. One those descendants became an Army Officer and a synopsis of his more than 50 years of service to his country is part of this text. The next two generations also included Army Officers. The last chapter provides practical guidance in leadership and management based on decades of experience as well as academic studies.
About the Author: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Beim is descendent from a long line of Crimean Karaims, tracing his lineage to the 16th century. He completed High School in Nyack, NY. After some Army enlisted service, he attended The Ohio State University. In June 1962, he received his BS degree, was commissioned an Army Lieutenant and married Judith Ann Chamberlin, all on the same day. During a long military career, Alexander Beim headed personnel offices and directed administrative systems and programs, with tours in Europe and combat in Vietnam. He earned a Masters degree in Public and Personnel Administration, taught graduate classes at American University, authored many magazine articles and was editor and contributing editor to professional journals. After the military, he joined the Federal Civil Service and worked many years as an Associate Director in the Smithsonian Institution. He retired after over 50 years in the military and civil service. His oldest son has also retired after 27 years as an officer in the US Army and his granddaughter is now a Lieutenant in the US Army. He inherited many documents from his father and grandfather and after translating them from Russian, Latvian, German and French and after extensive research was able to reconstruct the time from Isaac Bei to the present. He and his wife are both accomplished chefs and their cookbook is called We Live in Order to Eat.