Karen Gilden

Camping with the Communists: the Adventures of an American Family in the Soviet Union Karen Gilden

During the 1970s about 20,000 Americans each year visited the Soviet Union on highly structured guided tours. Very few chose to travel there independently. And almost no US tourists camped for six weeks, or drove 3,800 miles through the country commonly declared "our enemy." But the Gildens did. If you?ve forgotten what it was like to live with MAD (mutually assured destruction) or if you suddenly find yourself missing the iron curtain, it?s time to join the Gildens as they struggle with the Soviet bureacracy, come face to face with the KGB, steal toilet paper, smuggle a diamond, and say Nyet! to the border guards.