Back in Time, the only memoir to be written in the post-Stalin Soviet Union by a member of the Left Opposition, is a vivid account of Soviet life. A committed socialist, Nadezhda Joffe joined the Left Opposition in 1923, soon after its founding by Leon Trotsky. She was the daughter of Adolf Joffe, the Bolshevik leader and Left Oppositionist who committed suicide in 1927 to protest Trotsky's expulsion from the Bolshevik Party.

"I was personally acquainted with many participants in the October Revolution. Among them were people who renounced a calm, comfortable or prosperous life because they fervently believed in a radiant future for all mankind." - Nadezhda Joffe