The author has spent the last twelve months in Moscow, interviewing wherever he went, and everywhere finding people eager to exercise their new freedom to speak without fear. From their words he builds a picture of the Soviet Union today, a picture which includes an old lady selling newspapers in the street, the manager of the huge and internationally famous GUM Department Store, a stagehand at the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Director of the USSR's first McDonald's hamburger bar. He spoke to a World War two tank commander, an Army veteran recently returned from Afghanistan, to hippies and pacifists, as well as meeting a chess Grandmaster, a beauty queen, a private detective, and drinking tea for two hours in the Lubianka with officers of the KGB. All responded to Tony Parker as he encouraged individuals to speak for themselves. As a result this book mirrors a cross-section of contemporary Russia and its people.