We endure when we feel unbearably bad. We resent it when life gets a little easier. We respect the cruel and despise the kind. We want to live in truth, but we lie at every step. What is the secret of Russian national behavior that has been talked about for several centuries? What gave birth to the modern model of our life style? The new book by Denis Dragunsky is a psychological analysis of Russian reality. Radiant utopias, Soviet power technologies, a great victory, life in communal apartments, chaos and stagnation. Brezhnev and Gorbachev. Perestroika, putsch, crime. Corruption, collapse of morality, visceral fear of freedom and greedy desire for God. Or maybe what we have today is generally not bad? But it’s the 21st century, and it’s somehow awkward in front of your own grandchildren... This book was created on the basis of articles and notes by Denis Dragunsky on the website “Private Correspondent” (this is not noted at the end of the articles), as well as in the magazines “New Time”, “The Art of Cinema”, “The 20th Century and the World”, “Emergency Reserve”, “Family and School”.