This edition includes the autobiographical novel by Alexei Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (1821-1881) “People of the Forties.” All Pisemsky’s novels are novels of the collapse of illusions. The only exception is the novel “People of the Forties”, the hero of which Vikhrov, endowed with autobiographical features, fights evil both as a writer and as an official and believes in the success of his activities. The writer tests a variety of ideals and comes to the conclusion that, no matter how good they are in themselves, in modern Russian reality there is no connection between high ideas and practical life.