Alexei Nikolaevich Golenkov is a modern Russian historian and publicist, author of several books on the history of Russia and the USSR. Readers are aware, in particular, of A. Golenkov’s work “Slandered Stalin,” recently published in co-authorship with Yu. Mukhin. In his new book, A. Golenkov explores the history of the Soviet Union, highlighting the main, general line in it, which makes it possible to show the essence of the Soviet system, explain the patterns of development of the USSR and highlight the place of the Soviet model in world civilization. The author's conclusions are largely paradoxical: he believes that the imperial interests of the USSR corresponded to the interests of the broadest strata of the people and the Soviet Union was a truly people's empire.