Alexander Etkind is a scientist with an unusual destiny, combining indefatigable curiosity with fruitful work, adventurism in choosing topics with a successful academic career. Starting as a psychologist, he became a cultural historian, then acquired the status of a political commentator and influencer; worked as a professor at the European University in St. Petersburg, the University of Cambridge and the European University Institute in Florence, and now teaches at the Central European University in Vienna. This book contains, in reverse chronological order, interviews that Etkind gave to Russian-language media in 2001–2021. Among Etkind’s interlocutors are Arkady Dragomoshchenko, Dmitry Bykov, Anna Narinskaya and other famous contemporaries. In the interview, the scientist raises important social topics that form the basis of his books: the specifics of Russian statehood, the problem of decolonization of the historical narrative, the work of collective memory of the tragic past, the cultural history of resources and many others. Alexander Etkind is the author of intellectual bestsellers, including the books “The Nature of Evil”, “Internal Colonization”, “Crooked Mountain”, “Interpretation of Travel” and “Whip”, published by the New Literary Review publishing house.