The book is based on the diaries kept by Joseph Davis, US Ambassador to the USSR in 1936–1937. The publication of the diaries of the ambassador to the States in 1942 caused a mixed reaction in the world media, which for the most part came to the opinion that "this is the most blatant propaganda of the Soviet Union. Nothing similar has ever been published in any country in the world, and perhaps in the USSR too." Joseph Davis objectively assessed the process of industrialization, the development of the USSR during the first five-year plans and the measures taken by the country's government to preserve peace in Europe for as long as possible. Davis arrived in the Soviet Union at a time when the trial of the Radek group was going on in Moscow, witnessed the so-called "purges" and, unexpectedly for everyone, later (already in the fall of 1941) gave a positive assessment of it. Davis's diaries have not been translated into Russian, and the version offered on Amazon is an automated translation from English.