An extraordinary contrast to both these men was Gorky, with whom I had a brief interview in Petrograd. He was in bed, apparently dying and obviously heartbroken. He begged me, in anything I might say about Russia, always to emphasize what Russia has suffered. He supports the government--as I should do, if I were a Russian--not because he thinks it faultless but because the possible alternatives are worse. One felt in him a love of the Russian people which makes their present martyrdom almost unbearable, and prevents the fanatical faith by which the pure Marxians are upheld. I felt him the most lovable, and to me the most sympathetic, of all the Russians I saw. I wished for more knowledge of his outlook, but he spoke with difficulty and was constantly interrupted by terrible fits of coughing, so I could not stay.

I find it very trying to sit down and read a history book.  Most of the history I know has been told to me or I've picked up studying film or literature.  But with source material I am kid in an a candy store.  Closest thing to being there, perhaps.  Reminds me of something a friend said the other night when we were watching the eclipse: we intellectually know about the planets and their orbits and the sun, etc. but to actually witness some evidence of it still takes your breath away.

Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.