Letters From A Soviet Prison

Book Synopsis taken from the book Letters from a Soviet Prison:

My father, Francis Gary Powers, was a CIA U-2 pilot who was shot down in the midst of the Cold War, on May 1, 1960, while flying in Soviet Airspace. After his capture, he was tried for espionage and then served nearly two years in a Soviet prison until his eventual release in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States in the late 1950s. The two operatives were brought to separate sides of the Glienicker Bridge in Potsdam, Germany, as depicted in Steven Spielberg's motion picture Bridge of Spies, where the exchange took place. While in prison my father kept a personal journal and was allowed to write and receive personal correspondence. In this book are the never-before published journal of my father's thoughts as a Prisoner of War, along with more than 150 personal letters written and received by my father during his captivity. Included in this book are some 50 photographs, many of them personal photographs of the Powers' family taken during the time of my father's imprisonment. With the help of acclaimed researcher and author Douglas E. Campbell, we present to the reader the chronological history of my father's life while in Soviet prison as reflected in his journal and correspondence. As the son of Francis Gary Powers, I would like to also thank the son of the former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Professor Sergei Khrushchev, for his kind remarks in the Preface. I would also like to thank noted U-2 historian Chris Pocock for his remarks in the Postscript.