Alexis Sommaripa was born to minor nobility in pre-Revolutionary Russia and his diary describes the next forty years of his life. Using proceeds from his brother's stamp collection he escaped from 'Mother" Russia to Boston. There, he fell in love and married a Bostonian widow with three little daughters. Meanwhile, he changed careers, sped through Harvard with a business degree and got a job at DuPont researching textiles. Though neither alcohol nor cigarettes attracted him, this flirtatious, dashing charmer had a weakness for women that eventually destroyed his marriage. With the start of...

Amory Sommaripa is a 77 year old retired physician. With a Russian count father and a Boston Brahmin mother his has been an unusual life filled with a variety of events that have been humorous lucky and downright embarrassing. Starting in his first decade he had the following: apparent visits by angels, summers on a ranch with near-drowning, rattlers and arroyos, four mothers, auction angst, and raised and showed a champion Angus steer. His second ten years included Mad Tom the Model T Ford, three bridal giveaways, catching the midnight and spins and solos while flying. Later he flunked...