The word "former" appears many times in Threlkeld's book, but don't let that fool you. This book is as timely as any writen on Russian Republic. The author is smart and sensitive and what he saw in the late 1990's is indispensable to an understanding of Russia today. The Moscow Christmas described in chapter four, for example, is a brilliant account of a people who are revisiting old traditions after 70 years of Communist rule. The Russians are paying a terrible price for their mistakes, but one can see how these stoic and determined people will bring about the birth of a new Nation from the wreckage of the Soviet Union.

Richard Threlkeld spent 25 years as a foreign correspondent, covering war and peace, triumph and tragedy for CBS and ABC. He was CBS's Man in Moscow from 1996 to 1999. His 43 "dispatches" paint a vivid picture of life and work in the former Soviet Union. He combines history, journalism and the best kind of travelogue in a memoir that entertains and educates. Threlkeld listens to the heartbeat of the nascent Russian democracy. He describes the voters in the old town of Zaraisk who bring their children to the polls, so they'll learn to vote when they grow up. His humor rivals P.J. O'Rourke's as he reads us the traffic signs in Moscow ("No turns between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. except for vehicles that are not trucks") and takes us to a restored hotel in Vladivostok ("There's a casino on the thrid floor but no drawers or closets in the rooms.") Whether he is reporting on the tax-free investments of the Russian Orthodox Church or the habits of Azerbaijani Talish centenarians, Threlkeld delivers the good news and the bad, the heartbreak and the hope of this enormous and amazing new Russia. His journalism is insightful, trustworthy and eminently readable.