The Marquis de Custine's chronicle of his journey through Russia in 1839, in addition to a marvelous display of travel literature, is an acute and even prophetic analysis of one of the most vast, complex and astonishing countries in the world. In these imaginary letters to readers of her time, Custine, who in her journey dealt with people of all stripes, including the Tsar himself, offers us vivid descriptions of St. Petersburg and Moscow, of life at court and at street level. , as well as the impoverished rural community. Repudiated by both the Tsarists and the Bolsheviks, Letters from Russia was a tremendously popular text even in the author's lifetime, and after its recovery during the Cold War it became as indisputable a classic as Tocqueville's Democracy in America.