"In April 1917, Walter Crosley assumed the position of naval attaché to Petrograd and brought his wife, Pauline, with him. Over the next eleven months, the Crosleys witnessed the last gasps of the Russian Empire and the emergence of the new Bolshevik-led communist regime. Throughout this period, Pauline wrote letters describing the changing political landscape and the challenges of daily life in a city in the midst (and in the wake) of revolution. Though her letters were written primarily to family members, she recognized their potential value and the interest they might hold for a larger audience, and decided to publish them in 1920. As Crosley wrote in the foreword to her book, "May these letters now serve to interest and enlighten those others who would know what has not before been published!"