First published in 1994, this is the story of episode's in the author's life when he has visited parts of the Soviet Union, and its impact on him and his life. Starting with the arrival of the Red Army in his small Polish village in 1939 - worth reading the book just for that small part - followed by his travels within the USSR in the 1960s and 1989-91, the book gives graphic account of the disintegration of the USSR and links its historical experience into this. For instance, the tale of the peasant couple in Siberia who, upon the onset of collectivisation, walked off into the taiga wit ha cow and a couple of pigs and survived - undetected and unvisited until the 1980s, puts a different aspect on Stalin's totalitarian society. Enjoyable and informative. A terrific update on the end of the USSR.