Ludányi's recollections offer a rare and valuable contribution to our understanding of American domestic and foreign policy and American-Hungarian relations. It has never been an easy task to arrive at a simple assessment of US policy, and this task is perhaps more difficult today than it has ever been. Ludányi nevertheless makes at attempt to do just this, and he does so without ever ignoring his own mistakes and disappointments. His insights are particularly engaging in part because he writes both from the perspective of a loyal, even patriotic American citizen but also from the viewpoint of an

outsider, a concerned Hungarian who is committed to Western values...

The volume which the reader has now taken in hand is being published both in English and in Hungarian, as it will be of interest both to American and Hungarian audiences, not to mention to Hungarian Americans. It will serve to foster an increasingly nuanced understanding of Hungarian-American relations, while also appealing to readers who are simply enrapt by the thoughts and insights it offers, which are shared in a light style which will often bring a smile to the reader's face.