Son of an American journalist and a Russian writer, Victor Fischer grew up in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin. After Eleanor Roosevelt personally engineered his family's escape from Russia, Fischer went on to fight for the Allied forces in World War II, serve as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, and later return to Russia with lessons of democracy. At a time when America's relationship with Russia is once again in the news, Fischer's experiences on both sides of the Atlantic make for a timely memoir.