RUSSIA IN MY LIFE

In the fall of 1952, the author of this extremely valuable book stood in a midwestern cornfletl next to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, covering the famous American tour of that volatile gentleman for the Washington Post. He was given that key assignment not only because he spoke fluent Russian and knew Russian history, but because he served in the Soviet Union for the State Department and then the Associated Press for nine years. Those years---stretching from the white hot center of World War II until the day Khrushchev took office---are recorded here as they looked through the eyes of this intelligent, perceptive student of Russia. Beginning with his own growing interest and study of Russia which began before the War, Whitney takes us to a bush bush job in Washington, then to the stifling, repressed, anxiety-ridden atmosphere of Moscow. From his notes, his actual notebooks, and his vivid memories, he recreates the conversations with generals and bureaucrats, the encounters with the people on the street the entangling Kremlin red tape, which marked life in the Soviet capital then. Through his marriage to the lovely Russian singer, Julie, and their home life, he gives as accurate portrayal of the intimate side of the Russian personality. And not a little attention is given to the unfolding of the great post-war Russian stories the development of the Cold War, the Doctor's Plot, and Stalin's death in 1953--and how these great events affected the Russian people. Such a wealth of well-organized, sensitively recorded information about Russian life in contained in this autobiographical history that the book may well he counted on in future years as one of the really important on the Soviet Union. Extremely well written throughout.