Caviar and Commissars

Gifted storyteller Kemp Tolley guides readers through the lively world of a young naval attaché in Moscow from 1942 to1944. His absorbing tale describes the adventures of a thirty-day journey on a trans-Siberian train, the success of a long-sought-after inspection of a Soviet warship viewed through the haze of innumerable Vodka toasts, and the unease of state banquets with Stalin and Churchill. It also provides dramatic evidence of the contrasts of Soviet life with descriptions of elegant nights at the ballet accompanied by a beautiful agente provocatrice and memories of starving stevedores wolfing down scraps of raw meat thrown out by American ships. Filled with clever one-liners and complemented by numerous period photographs culled from the author’s own collection, this reminiscence has enjoyed great appeal, since first published on 1983, with readers who like adventure and have an interest in the behind-the-scenes activities of the U.S. Navy and Soviet Union in the early 1940s. The late Kemp Tolley, also the author of Cruise of the Lanikai and Yangtze Patrol , enjoyed a long naval career before retiring from the U.S. Navy at the rank of Rear Admiral.