“In Soviet times, you could get arrested or shot for staring at this monument,” Liga, our lanky guide for the Soviet tour of Riga, pointed out as we watched the changing of the guards at the foot of the soaring Freedom Monument. I shivered and tried to imagine living amidst such brutal surveillance. Growing up in suburban Chicago in the 1970’s, the Cold War had simmered throughout my days, kindling a chronic fascination and fear of the Soviet Union. Latvia, as part of the Eur