V.E. Semichastny partially wrote his memoirs, partially dictated them shortly before his death. A solid, convinced, uncompromising man, he tried to comprehend in them both his own life and the history of the country, which he served faithfully for about half a century. The book will open the reader has a lot of interesting information about the methods and style of work of the highest bodies of the Soviet state, the CPSU and the State Security Committee. It contains vivid characteristics of political figures of the USSR (N.S. Khrushchev, L.M. Kaganovich, L.I. Brezhnev, Yu.V. Andropov, A.N. Shelepin) and outstanding Soviet intelligence officers (R.I. Abel and K.T. Molodoy), as well as interesting details about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the sensational “Penkovsky case”, and the escape abroad of Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and much more.