Emelyan Pugachev made not only all of Russia talk about himself, but also Europe and even North America. Some called him an impostor, an adventurer, a foreign spy, a murderer and a libertine, others considered him a people's defender and truth-seeker, and recognized him as the legitimate “emperor” Pyotr Fedorovich. How was a simple Don Cossack able to create an army of thousands that opposed the regular tsarist troops and took fortified cities? Was the victory of the Pugachevites possible? How did they plan to organize Russia? What fate awaited Catherine II in this case? Where did the mysterious “royal signs” appear on the body of the rebel leader? Candidate of Historical Sciences Evgeny Trefilov answers these questions, often through the lips of the book’s heroes themselves, based on documents, reconstructing the speeches of one of the most prominent rebels in Russian history, his comrades and enemies.