This book began as a research project for a seminar course in Russian history at Davidson College, in 1962–63, and continued as a thesis for a junior-year-abroad program sponsored by the Scandinavian Seminar. Ten drafts and twenty-four years later, the metamorphosis is complete, and my thanks are due to the following people who helped along the way: Mr. and Mrs. Craig Gaskell, for making it possible for me to spend a year in Finland; Dr. A. I. Lobanov-Rostovsky, warrior, scholar, and prince of the Romanov family, for his early encouragement; the late Dr. Halfdan Gregerson, of the Scandinavian Seminar; Mrs. Gunnel Wrede (affectionately known, by members of the Tuborg Gang, as “The Baroness”); my cohorts in the Tuborg Gang—Ray Myhre, Sara Evans, and Fay Tobias; Mr. Brad Absetz of Viitakivi College, Hauho, Finland, for his valuable aid as a translator and go-between; Mr. and Mrs. Jorma Reinimaa; Reserve Colonel E. Kuusaari, editor of Kansa Taisteli; Eino Nurmio, who was patient and unbelievably helpful during several long months of translation and who became an esteemed friend in the process; Väinö Linna, author of Finland’s greatest war novel, The Unknown Soldier, who made me welcome in his home and gave valuable insight into the psychology of the Finnish GI; Eila Pekkanen, whose friendship remains a bright and beautiful memory even now; Erkka Maula, poet, philosopher, and sauna-freak, in honor of the hedgehog in the moonlight, the spiritus fortis, and the cause of “continual progress”; Dr. Louis D. Rubin, whose tough, expert editing made this book finally grow up; and the late Jean Sibelius, whose music ignited my lifelong love affair with the Finnish landscape: all else flowed from that.