This book comprises the first two parts of Herzen's autobiography, My Past and Thoughts, one of the greatest monuments of Russian iterature, comparable to the major works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev. Herzen begins with his nurse's account of Napoleon's occupation of Moscow in 1812, and continues through his solitary boyhood and close friendship with his cousin Nick Ogarëv, his days at Moscow University, and his eventual imprisonment for his socialist beliefs. The book ends with his adventures in exile which are vividly recounted and disply the rich observation of detail that make Herzen's work so compelling.