Written for a general audience, this is a book of sometimes serious, usually lighthearted, often humorous stories about life in Eastern Europe and Central Asia shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Russian Empire. In Post-Communist Worlds is the product of four years which professor Scheffer and his wife spent inside the former empire: in Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; "taking life big," while becoming thoroughly engrossed in the author's appointments as a visiting lecturer teaching both students and their teachers about democracy, liberal economy, and other social science subjects.

In this lively combination memoir/travel narrative, Dr. Scheffer provides both cultural/historical, and ethnographical description, while recounting numerous personal incidents in his and his wife's life, and offering stories of the lives and events of people they encountered around them. This book provides a fascinating record of a huge, unique event in human history, told with the personal touch of the author's direct experience.