During a lifetime, of activism - including three decades as the president of the Federation of American Scientists - Jeremy J. Stone has worked on a broad range of issues from nuclear war, disarmament and ethnic conflict to human rights and good government. In this memoir, carefully documented - and decorated with special ornaments showing key turning points - he describes two dozen of his most fascinating adventures and dares to try to determine whether and why they did, or did not, make a difference. He describes roles in achieving important arms control treaties, in softening U.S.-Soviet hostility, and in undermining Maoist movements in Asia and Latin America.

His adventures include the early discovery of Reagan's interest in astrology and the prevention of a false alarm for an East Coast earthquake. He helped to initiate a CIA-KGB connection and his ideas are disclosed for the peaceful resolution of two of the world's most impacted territorial struggles - in Yugoslavia and between Taiwan and China - as well as his human rights work in defense of Andrei Sakharov and his effort to save the life of Soviet Premier Khrushchev's daughter. He even played a role in Watergate.