On a December evening in 1931, a twelve year old boy leaves his familiar life behind as he and his family sail out of New York Harbor on the first leg of their journey to the Soviet Union. His immigrant parents left their New Jersey home because they had been lured by the promises of plentiful jobs. Years later that boy would tell his children a few stories about his youth, but he never discussed the details. No one asked how his family traveled to the Soviet Union to escape the Great Depression or what it was like to return alone just months before the United States became involved in the...