They tried their best to find a place where I was isolated. But all the resources of a superpower cannot isolate the man who hears a voice of freedom, a voice I heard from the very chamber of my soul.

Imagine if the United States, in its war against Hitler, had said to Stalin: we don't want your support until you make your country democratic.

I was inspired to write this book by those who are sceptical of the power of freedom to change the world.

Can someone within that society walk into the town square and say what they want without fear of being punished for his or her views? If so, then that society is a free society. If not, it is a fear society.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

As soon as people become a little less fearful, they will also begin demanding more freedom.

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible.