The origins of the dissident movement, early samizdat, the dispute between Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn, the ordeal of Jewish refuseniks and the escapades of “bulldozer” artists - the biography of the scientist and human rights activist Alexander Goldfarb is closely connected with the most important events of the Cold War. His memoirs read not only as a valuable testimony to Soviet life, but also as an action-packed novel: the narrative centers on the KGB’s attempts to identify sources of information leaks about a secret biological weapons program. Carefully restoring all the fragments of this tangled story, the author simultaneously deeply reflects on the fate of several generations of his family and circle of peers, as well as his own relations with the Soviet state. Alexander Goldfarb is a microbiologist, publicist and public figure. Graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, worked at the Institute of Atomic Energy named after. I. V. Kurchatova. In 1975 he emigrated to Israel and now lives in the USA.