Alexander Sidorov’s new book (like the two previous ones - “Song of My Murka” and “Music Plays on Moldavanka”) is dedicated to “grassroots folklore” - thieves’ and prisoner’s songs. It includes essays united by the theme of the Gulag, telling about the most famous songs born in the camps and prisons of the USSR. And behind each there is a lot of information about our recent past unknown to the general reader: “I remember that Vanino port” - about the development of Kolyma; “Former Urka, Soldier of the Motherland” - about the participation of prisoners in the Great Patriotic War; “Stage to the North” is about the decrees that sharply increased the “population” of the Gulag; “In Kolyma” is about how there was a place for love in camp life...