Author was a journalist. This volume is a collection of "newspaper letters" written in the summer and autumn of 1910. Curtis was a witness to some of the violence against Armenians taking place in Turkey and wrote two articles about that, as well as discussing similar violence in Romania and other places. He was fascinated by Muslim women and seemed to equate female liberation as simply the wearing of Parisian fashions rather than the veil. Curtis also wrote about the successes and failures of Christian missions to the region as well as religion-based political conflict within each nation. Florence Nightingale, oil, railroads, education, and much more make up this account from an eyewitness source.