These days, if you want to actually get something done, you’ve got to do it yourself.

6 October 2011

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington,  DC 20050

Dear Mr. President,

I am aware this letter will not find its way to you.

As a American Citizen of Italian American descent, I write out of utter disgust that my groundbreaking project —discussed below briefly—has been graciously supported  by the Russian Government and completely ignored by the American political bureaucracy.

Recently, I completed my sixth book. (I am nationally recognized businessman —Who’s Who in America etc—turned author). It is the coming-of-age story of the world’s first female fighter pilot, a beautiful Russian teenager named Lilia Litvyak, who loved wildflowers, ice-skating, completed 268 missions, had 15 solo kills, and became Hitler’s worst embarrassment.  Tragically, she was shot down for the fourth and final time, 17 days before her 22 birthday. Unfortunately, history has not been kind to this woman of accomplishment. Lilia’s remains were lost for almost 40 years, and so her whole story has never been told.

I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx and have no Russian ancestry. Somehow fate came my way. Using my own resources,  I spent three years completing the book that is attached. It is more than a book about one women, it is a tribute to the accomplishments of women everywhere, and a very belated thank you to the 40 million Russians who were the victims of the greatest human tragedy the world has ever known. My loving Russian female collaborators even translated the book into Russian.

Attached are copies of the book, and a few press releases from the Russian Cultural Centre in D.C. , where I have been a guest speaker twice—a first for an American.  As you will see, on  July 31 on  I’m also being honored in D.C. for my contributions to foster a better understanding between our two cultures.

I am proud of the fact that in some small way, I am making a difference to relationships between people from  different worlds.

Cordially,

M.G. Crisci