A captivating lifetime of personal and professional experiences by an American historian, film specialist and documentary filmmaker in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. The author's experiences as a radical in the turbulent 1960s, and his eventual disenchantment offer some precedents and perspectives to all those on the Left, Center or Right interested in the fluctuations of American politics. The vivid log of hopes and disillusions is related in a candid, non-academic style, and set against a panorama of history and politics in the late 20th century.