When the Revolution broke out in 1917, Sergei Golitsyn was just 8 years old. His memoir of the Revolution and the years that followed constitute one of the most powerful testimonies of events of that time. The Golitsyn's, descendents of Catherine the Great, were early victims of the communist terror. Young Golitsyn describes how his mother is forced to feed the family by making shoes and to his dismay fails to learn how to cook the few vegetables available. He tells of the many friends and family sent to the Gulag or to hard labour, sees Gorky, and paints a rich and colourful picture of life in Russia as Bolshevism turns to Stalinism. Golitsyn travels to remote parts of the country witnessing a way of life fast disappearing, describing the towns and monasteries that Stalin was soon to wipe from the map. He then fought with the Red Army across Europe to Berlin.