“Cities” and “castles” of the Khazar Kaganate. Archaeological reality. M.: Bridges of Culture/Gesharim, 2011. - 264 pp. The term “city” was established in archaeological and historical literature when describing some ancient settlements of the Khazar Kaganate. To what extent is it based on excavation materials? B. S. Flerov comes to a negative answer: there were no cities in the Khazar Kaganate. The author found a solution to the problem in a strict examination of the archaeological material of the Kaganate monuments claiming the status of a city. In general, the research program is formulated as follows: a city or something else. For Khazaria, it can be carried out on the basis of settlement plans, types of buildings, sizes of fortifications, the presence of handicraft production. The book also explores socio-economic issues: nomadism, economic development, feudalism, the degree of centralization in the kaganate.