Barbara Oakley’s riveting portrayal of espionage, lust, comic adventure, hard work – and harder drinking – brings to life a little-known episode of American history when two cold-warring nations got together to fish the north Pacific. The joint fishing venture saw a brief period of success during the 1980s when Americans caught fish within the two-hundred mile maritime limit, then passed them off at sea to Russian processing trawlers. Oakley served as a translator aboard the processing ships, and Hair of the Dog is her true-life story of volatile Russian and American fishermen forced to work together.

Barbara Oakley proved to be a resourceful translator – one who could silence the KGB with a squirt gun or handle a mob of drunken Russians seeking nirvana at K-Mart in downtown Portland. She is an equally imaginative author who has provided one of those rarest of book finds: a reflection upon an unknown world; and entertaining tale of adventure; and a thought-provoking examination of the intertwining consequences of fanaticism, greed, and opportunity.