Memoirs of the scientist-historian, professor Evgenia Vladimirovna Gutnova contain a narrative about the life path of the author and her family members. They were eyewitnesses of historical events and witnesses of the past of our country - from the July days of 1917 in Petrograd to the August putsch of 1991. Undoubtedly, the book will attract the attention of a wide readership. Professional historians and novice researchers will be interested in the story about the formation of the author as a person and as a medievalist, about the revival and development of the history department of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, about the development of historical science.