This memoir depicts an eyewitness account of some of the social and political antecedents to the 20th Century's pivotal cataclysms. While broad in scope this is the light but illuminating story of a scientist, politician, traveler, and patriot's odyssey leading up to and including World War I and the Russian Revolutions. Readers will live the sweeping story of positive and negative synergies in science, technology, and government played out on a local, national and global scale. This account should provide a human dimension and insights into an otherwise complex chain of events that led to the major turning point for Western Civilization in the 20th Century.