About the book: 2007 / “Rus' has fun and drink, we cannot exist without it” - this is how the great Kiev answered Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 988 on the proposal to convert to Islam, which prohibited the consumption of strong drinks. Since then, this phrase has often served as an argument in favor of the originality of Russian drinking traditions and the “Russian spirit” with its prowess and immensity. Based on medieval chronicles and acts, official documents and testimonies of contemporaries, statistics, journalism, press and literature data, the authors show where how and what our ancestors drank; how the drinking tradition developed in Russia; what was the “drinking policy” of the state and how did its subjects react to it - from antiquity to very recent times. The book by famous Moscow historians is addressed to the widest reader, since the topic to one degree or another affects most of the population of Russia.