About the book: 2001 / This book is not a memoir, but a sketch of the life of our society for 70 years. The author, who began his career at the age of fifteen as a loader, subsequently gained international fame as a professor of history and taught at universities in the USA and England. From the pages of his book emerge images of pre-war Moscow with its atmosphere of fear and enthusiasm, terrible details of the war, pictures of changes in life, everyday life, and the psychology of our people. Much attention is paid to Stalin and Stalinism, Khrushchev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin. The author reflects on the Russian national character, the relationship between nations and tries to answer the questions: was the death of Soviet power inevitable and why after its fall everything did not go as people hoped... These questions are answered by a man of extraordinary destiny, lively, observant, always having your own “special opinion” and your own special perspective.