This book contains a collection of articles published at different times in the Kommersant magazine. Money" in the "Story" section of the life stories of those who at different times ruled the minds, wallets, souls, and even the lives of thousands, or even millions of people. Our heroes lived in different eras, their achievements can be assessed in different ways - some left behind outstanding works of art or a scattering of new technologies, some - a fundamental theory or a global idea, and some - the ruins of a myth or stunning in scope , efficiency and cruelty of a criminal empire. But all of them, as a result, made our world, our life what it is, and without them it is no longer possible to imagine our history.