Confessions of a Fallen Standard-Bearer

They are virtual brothers, Arkady and Alyosha, young pioneers in Stalin''s postwar world, marching to the clarion call of socialism, to the stirring beat of the drums. The future, they are assured, is bright and beautiful. But what, then, are those endless miles of barbed wire they encounter everywhere along their route?

This is the moving, two-generational tale of two families, those of Yakov Zing...