Fifty Russian Winters - by Margaret Wettlin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A gripping account of Soviet life as experienced by an American who lived for 50 years on an absolutely equal basis with Russians. Packed with details of everyday life from giving birth in a Soviet hospital to living in a Moscow communal apartment. Forced to give up her American citizenship during Stalin's reign, Wettlin was coerced into becoming an informant for the KGB. She describes what Russia was like during and after World War II, her travels from the Baltic states to Siberia, Outer Mongolia, Leningrad, Uzbekistan and Georgia. Her mesmerizing book offers a background for understanding Soviet events that molded the Russian mind--from revolutionary enthusiasm to a complete repudiation of communism.

From the Back Cover

In 1932 Margaret Wettlin left Depression-torn America for the Soviet Union, eager to see for herself if communism was the hope for the future. Planning to remain one year, she fell in love with and married stage director Andrei Efremoff, and stayed on for almost fifty years. This extraordinary memoir is the story of how she and her family - and millions of their fellow citizens - struggled to survive the hardships of famine, repression, war, and terrible purges. Fifty Russian Winters is an incomparable and moving document - the only close-up view we have of Soviet life by an American who spent more than half a lifetime inside Russia and who, as Harrison Salisbury says in his introduction, "kept her heart and mind and eyes open - and remembered".

About the Author

Margaret Wettlin was an American-born Soviet memoirist and translator, best known for her translations of Russian literature.