I REDISCOVER RUSSIA 1924-1964

Nearly forty years after he had last set foot in Russia, Isaac Don Levine, biographer of Stalin and pursuer of the innermost secrets of his regime, set forth with his wife on a venture within the realm. Armed with a 1919 interview written in hand by Lenin, two original Corki manuscripts, and other prize items, Levine was prepared to offer them in return for entry to the great Soviet archives where he hoped to do research for his work in progress, The Age of Stalin. This is the story of his search, of his encounters with archivists, with people met along the way, whether they were individuals in the same restaurant or more causally connected with his work. The summit of his visit was his meeting with Mme. Peshkova, Gorki's first wife, who recalled for him the relationship and famous meeting of Lenin and Gorki at the spot where it took place. Levine reviews the puzzling aspects of Gorki's death, concerns himself with other mysteries, and as much with his own personal part in the proceedings. Viewing life under the de-Stalinization effort, he feels Russia will fall in with the West. To be read as a personal memoir and political detective story, not for information on present day Russia, this is of sporadic interest.