In Stalin's Russia, Victor Fischer's father, American journalist Louis Fischer, and his mother, Russian writer Markoosha Fischer, were persecuted as political activists and lived under threat of arrest until Eleanor Roosevelt helped them escape Russia. Victor Fischer grew up to serve in the US Army during WWII and later was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention. He served in the Territorial House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate, and also held government positions in Washington, DC. During his return to Russia in recent times, he rekindled old friendships, including the brother of a childhood friend, who wrote about Fischer's childhood in The Troika: The Story of an Unmade Film. Fischer has also been mentioned in his mother's and fathers' autobiographies. In Fischer's own autobiography, he reflects on his early his years, his career, and his personal life with a sense of humor, drawing on his parents' memoirs, correspondence, and other papers, as well as other archives. The book includes a wealth of b&w historical photos and color contemporary photos. Fischer is former director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska. Wohlforth has written other books about Alaska. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)