Two worlds--one story. Two worlds falling apart: Romania from the agony of Ceausescu's reign and under his successors to this day, and Nineveh the doomed, shortly before the Babylonian conquest in 612 BC. One story: rampant corruption, lawlessness, pervasive moral degradation, and cruelty. Rulers and robbers are almost impossible to distinguish from one another. A thin minority of honest people still try to change their worlds: some fight in bloody revolutions, others devise new laws. Do they have a chance? The lead character, a researcher, comes from their ranks. His is a long-term vision. He seems to think that, beyond their decline and punishment, both worlds have something left to salvage--their libraries, their cultural identities. "The Last Winter" relates his dreams, his struggle, and, implicitly, his hope. He has essentially one friend, a cat, and one hope--that future generations will appreciate and need the heritage he's striving to preserve. Wish him luck.