The next volume of historical investigations by Alexander Zvyagintsev takes us back to the times of the Russian Empire: the reader will witness the emergence and formation of the domestic system of power and administration under Peter the Great, the activities of Pavel Yaguzhinsky and Gabriel Derzhavin and the crisis of the monarchy during the times of Peter Stolypin and Ivan Shcheglovitov, whose words about the “reluctant struggle of the paralytics of power with the epileptics of the revolution” turned out to be a key but ignored warning for their era. As in all books in the series, the material is distinguished by maximum completeness and objectivity, and portraits of historical figures, whether representatives of power or oppositionists (such as Ivan Kalyaev and Vera Zasulich), presented in all their complexity and inconsistency...