"The excitement of being a tourist in the Soviet Union, he decided, had little to do with the land (dull), the people (drab), or the climate (awful). The excitement derived from being where relatively few Westerners went, from being in a country that didn't encourage tourism, where xenophobia was a deep-rooted condition of the psyche; a nation that was a police state. The ultimate vacation: a dangerous place." Chap. 1, p. 8

"Somewhere, she assumed, was a master plan for changing the face of Moscow, but the citizens who lived in the city had never been asked their opinion." Chap. 1, p.

"He was into streets, and he claimed he'd never seen Red Square because he couldn't drive through it." Chap. 1, p. 41

"An old woman approached and smiled widely, giving Hollis the impression she was wearing someone else's dentures." Chap. 1, p. 85

"[...] Russians are perhaps the last of the Europeans to put...