Tracing the life path of Nobel Prize laureate Solzhenitsyn, the author of the book shows that, while calling on others to not live by lies, the writer himself never adhered to this principle. Taking this into account, both the story of his first arrest and stay in the Gulag, as well as his confrontation with the Soviet system, takes on a completely different character. By drawing the readers’ attention to this, the outstanding historian makes us think not only about the dissident movement in the Soviet Union of 1960–1980. and the struggle that was going on then in the ruling elite of Soviet society, but also about the origins of the tragedy that our country is experiencing. 2nd edition, supplemented and corrected.