About the book: 2022 / It is generally accepted that in pre-revolutionary Russia private property was not sufficiently protected and that Russian liberalism was unable to substantiate the ideals of individualism and freedom of property. However, E. Pravilova’s book offers a completely new look at this problem. It shows that, contrary to general belief, the autocratic state guarded the interests of the owners, while liberal thinkers, politicians and experts advocated limiting hypertrophied private rights in favor of society. E. Pravilova analyzes the emergence and development of ideas and institutions of “public property” in several areas - environmental protection, the development of hydropower and the use of natural resources, the protection of artistic and archaeological monuments, as well as literary property. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the fate of Russian forests and Orthodox icons, architectural masterpieces and works of great writers was associated with a revision of the property system. Lawyers and architects, art historians and foresters, engineers and literary critics advocated for society to become the rightful owner of “common things.” As the author shows, Russian pre-revolutionary liberalism was not individualistic - it developed the ideas of civil society, built on the public ownership of national wealth. Ekaterina Pravilova – historian, professor at Princeton University (USA).