In late October, 50 years ago, the world witnessed one of the largest leaderless spontaneous revolutions. Triggered by a confluence of fateful events, Hungarian students led hundreds of thousands of their countrymen in an open revolt against the Soviet-sponsored government. Matthews, a journalist at Radio Free Europe, realised he had a ringside seat and saved every scrap of news. Here, at long last, from those journalist reports and memoirs, he recreates a picture of what it was like to live through that exhilirating time.